


Cuff Slashers.

by darlingjongin



Category: offgun
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Angst, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Eventual Smut, Gambling, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Mentions of War, Minor Character Death, Murder, Slow Burn, Violence, detective!Gun, gangster!Off, time period: 1920
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:20:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 52,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25100776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingjongin/pseuds/darlingjongin
Summary: East London, 1919. A time where there was no law, only God. And he goes by the name of Off Jumpol.
Relationships: Arm Weerayut Chansook/Alice Tsoi, New Thitipoom Techaapaikhun/Tay Tawan Vihokratana, Off Jumpol Adulkittiporn/Gun Atthaphan Phunsawat
Comments: 32
Kudos: 228





	1. 01

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the series: Peaky Blinders.
> 
> Pls read the tags, thank you.

**Title: Cuff Slashers**

**Summary:** East London, 1919. A time where there was no law, only God. And he goes by the name of Off Jumpol.

 **Tags:** mobster!Off, inspector!Gun, time period, slow burn, angst, gore, murder, violence, smut, character deaths

**_South London; 1919._ **

The skies were painted black, smokes from factories cascaded from above, covering the sun and shadowing the streets with grey. It smelt of piss and tar, a mixture of tobacco and musk filled the streets of London. The worst was yet to come. Upon the end of the war, the great city of the victorious country has succumbed to their own sins. Young men returned with red eyes and fear in their realities, screeches of their memories of the tunnels ringing in their ears before they slept. Over the coming months, men have been discarded, loss of sanity and infiltration of the grey clouds which blinded their sight. The triumphant country had injected their own pandemic of disillusioned young men with no payroll and starvation for the rotten bread handed scarcely by the King. There was no hope, no light at the end of the dark tunnel.

There was no law, there was just God. And he goes by the name of Off Jumpol.

_‘He’s here’_

_‘He’s here’_

_‘Quick. Hide’_

A man arose from the grey smokes, ashes falling from his lips as his leather boots, torn yet polished, tapped against the cobbled streets of Peckham. His hands were tightly covered with black leather gloves, woven perfectly on his skin.

_‘A slasher’_

He could hear their whispers, hoarse and broken, but evidently loud against the clacking of metal against metal as he passed the blacksmith’s.

‘Sir’, he saw a young man, dressed in an oversized shirt and suit, probably at the age of fifteen, no more than a wee boy with dirt on his face and dried bleeding lips. He stood at the end of the street where he was heading, quivering in fear at the sight on him.

He stopped in his tracks; his fingers readjusted the silver cuffs placed on the end of his sleeves. His eyes were deeply hollow, darkened skin rested underneath as he stared at the young boy. There was no compassion in his expression, not a hint of humanity from the man. The streets fell silent in his presence, ominous ringing of bells as it hits noon. Windows were closed but curtains were drawn out, eyes staring from the cracks of safety, wondering what a slasher was doing in their neighbourhood.

‘Sir, my father… He pleas parlay’, the young man repeated, his voice squeaked and broken, fright in his eyes as he looked up to stare at him.

‘What’s your name boy?’, he finally spoke, ignoring the young man, a deep husk filled the streets. The Blacksmiths stopped their work, hammers still in their hands as their heads turned to watch the man reach his hand out for the young boy.

‘Chimon… Sir’, the boy stuttered.

‘Chimon’, the man finally smiled, the end of his lips stretching a little to form a smirk. He kept his eyes solely on the boy, ‘How would you like to work for me?’

‘My father told me never to approach you’

‘Aye, that’s good advice’, he replied, ‘But it was I who approached you’, he smiled again, ‘So, what say you?’

_‘No’_

_‘No’_

_‘Don’t go’_

_‘Chimon, don’t go’_

_‘Chimon, go back inside’_

The neighbourhood was whispering to the young boy, begging him to step away and run back to his house. A slasher cannot be trusted.

‘You can take your father’s place’, he added on. He slid his hand inside his pockets as he waited for the boy to reply. He never waited for anyone, but in this instance, he felt pity. He thought to give the boy a few seconds of his time.

‘Will I be a slasher?’

‘You can be whatever you want under my care’, he promised. He reached inside his suit to feel the warm metal pocket watch hidden inside. He broke his stare from the boy to look at the time.

12.03.

‘Come with me boy’

‘Chimon, get back here now!’, the man heard a screech coming from one of the houses, a door swinging open. He saw a woman coming to life, her voice haste and manners quick as she tried to reach out for the boy. She had greying hair with was tied messily in a bun, black tar smeared across her cheeks and blood dripping from her overworked hands. The man focused on her hands, seeing them grip tightly on the boy’s fabrics. He tilted his head and watched her, counting tens in his head.

‘Chimon’, he called out for the last time, ‘Make your decision now boy. I wait for no one’

‘Please sir’, the woman wailed. She rushed to push the boy out of his sight, standing in front of him. She bent down to her knees, her dress drenched in mud and shit, ‘Not my son. Please, not him’

The man leaned down a little, his leather hands reached out to rest it on her chin as he lifted it up. He smirked a little.

‘Shall I take you instead?’, he whispered to her, his hot smoked breath leaving her eyes dry.

‘Please’, she wallowed, ‘Do whatever you need to do to my husband, but not my son’, she murmured, drool dripping from the corners of her mouth as she howled at him, loud strong voice which broke into echoes that spoke to the rest of the streets.

‘I have’, the man replied, clicking his tongue in amusement as he straightened his back. He let go of her chin and clicked his hands, beckoning his boys to come out of the ashes from behind him.

Three men, dressed alike to him, walked from the end of the round, a heinous wail coming from the knelt woman in front of him as they watch them drag an unconscious old body, throwing it in front of her.

‘He’s all yours’, the three men snickered, no remorse as they dropped the unconscious man on the grey cobbled streets.

‘Father!’, the young boy screamed when he watched his mother wrap her arms around him, her screeches blinding him from the blood that dripped down to his sleeves, the cuffs drenched in red.

‘Off with his hand!’

‘Off with his hand!’, the slashers sang, loud and harsh, laughing as they walked away to stand behind the man who kept no expression lasting on his face.

‘Chimon, come here’, the man ordered one last time, ‘It’s your turn to take your father’s place’

_‘Off with his hand! Off with his hand!’_

The people of the streets stared between the cracks of their windows and doors, their lips parted in shock as they repeated the cursed sentence. The old man had his hands cut off, limbs missing from his body.

Chimon, with shaking hands and tears brimming in his eyes, slowly stepped forward, ignoring his mother’s wails as he closed his eyes and passed his father.

The man in front of him smiled, a dirty gleam hinting in his eyes.

‘Welcome to the Cuff Slashers’

* * *

**Central London, Westminster.**

Attaphan wore a dark suit as he strode his way inside the office. Inspector Craine had called him before the rising of the sun, much to his dismay. He rolled his eyes as he took off his hat, storming inside his boss’s office.

‘What is it?’, he groaned, leaning on the wall and sliding out a cigarette from inside his pockets. He hated being woken before sunrise and after the war, it seemed to be the case that his boss had been calling out to him every day to look at new cases.

‘Three bodies found!’, Inspector Crain screamed as he threw the newspaper on his desk, a grey photograph of three bodies wrapped in plastic, plastered on the front pages, ‘All in the Thames!’

‘Another day, another murder’, Atttaphan murmured nonchalantly, resting his lit cigarette between his moistened lips. He walked over and read the front cover headlines:

_Three bodies found with hands severed. Killer not found._

‘They’re calling it the return of Jack the Ripper’, Attaphan said to his officer, who only screamed at the sight of his subordinate’s offhand attitude.

‘It’s the Slashers’, he wailed, ‘They’re at it again!’

‘The Cuff Slashers?’, working for the police for a mere three years was enough for Gun to listen to the whispers of the streets. He had heard of that name before, once or twice whilst questioning witnesses and suspects. That name had become infamous over the years.

‘It has to be them’, Inspector Craine shouted, his voice shaking the windows.

‘I highly doubt it’, Attaphan mumbled as he read the article, ‘They said the wrist was severed violently, showing multiple attempts of cutting’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?!’

‘It means it can’t be the Slashers’, Attaphan pointed out, turning the page and reading further in, ‘The Slasher’s cuts are precise and prim. One cut and the whole hand is gone. These… They looked erratic and violent as if they were trying to murder’

‘And that is exactly what the Slashers do!’

‘No’, Attaphan disagreed with his boss, turning back to the front of the page and looking at the photographs once more, ‘Slashers keep their victims alive. If they wanted anyone dead, they would’ve killed them without the need of theatrics’

‘So, what do you supposed this is?’, Inspector Craine shouted at him, frustration surging through his veins after government officials came knocking at the building with a warning to do his job or get the chop.

‘I think we have a mimicker on the loose’, Attaphan informed him.

* * *

‘Oy! Look at that pesky young lad’, Arm shouted from across the bar, watching the cleaners come in the morning. He had a tailcoat and a second-hand tie around his neck as he fumbled inside the bar, half drunk and hungover from last night. It seemed like the alcohol refused to leave his system.

‘If you’re not fit to work in my bar yet, leave’, Tay scowled at his younger brother, hitting him on the head with a rolled newspaper as he walked to his shelves of collectable alcohol, growing in numbers as the years drove by. Arm rolled his eyes and watched Tay pretentiously drool over his fine collection of whisky and wine, stroking each glass like it was his own cock. He had to laugh.

‘Where the fuck is Off?’, Arm whined, clearly having enough of his brother’s stupid stunt.

The Cuff Slashers were owned by three working-class brothers. The youngest, Arm, had the reputation that seemed only fitting for him. Born on Halloween, rumours of demons running through his veins were proven correct by his impulsive behaviour which caused riots and fights that have garnered attention from the police. His violent streeks were feared by men and women alike who ignored him the moment he opened the door and stepped outside. Tay told him he would never end up with a woman if he kept acting like that, but Arm was too focused on the alcohol in his stomach and the music in his years to ever care about someone else. He wanted everything to be about him.

Tay, on the other hand, revelled in the arts – or so he says. Being the middle child, he focused on hobbies which garnered attention from others, whether it be men or women, he welcomed it all. He had an eye for the arts and used his hands to stroke brushes on canvas – both paper and skin. Most recently, he’d gained an interest in wine collection, setting up a bar inside his older brother’s speakeasy to which he spent every night coercing curious minds to his performance of wine and words. It’s gotten him in bed with some of the most beautiful women and has become his most favourite hobby yet.

With their father dead and their mother is gone, their oldest took hold of the family business. And he goes by the name of Off Jumpol. He currently owned the speakeasy that was placed in the middle of Camden, a perfect safe haven for writhing rats and sinful players. He exudes nothing but intimidation and he smelt of tobacco and cigars. He felt no remorse and he would often be found amidst his clients of partygoers and swingers. He reserved close eyes over every little business that they had, which left him with no time to find hobbies, unlike his brothers.

‘Where’s my dear brother of mine!’, Arm shouted at the workers, glaring at them whilst he waited for their answer, yet they could not give him one. The eldest moved like the wind, silent and invisible, only made clear when a storm was coming, otherwise, no one noticed him.

‘He’ll come when he wants to’, Tay reminded him, pouring himself a small glass of whisky from his crystal-clear glass. Despite morning, Tay found himself filling his stomach with bitter alcohol in his system.

‘Off with his hand!’

Arm and Tay both heard the rowdy men banging their leather boots down the stairs towards the bar, making their eye rolls as they watched the Slashers walking in with their muddied faces and bloodied hands.

‘Not again’, Tay whispered to himself as he stared at the boys, leaning his chin on the palm of his hands as he took another sip of his whisky, ‘He’s been handing out that command too often’

‘I say it was well deserved’, Arm chuckled, stealing Tay’s whisky as he downed it straight from the bottle, ‘Green Sword Gang had it coming’

‘Where’s their turf?’

‘Peckham’, Arm informed him with a slurred voice, clearly not helping himself with his hangover by drinking more, ‘Someone needs to be assigned down there now that we own Green Sword’s businesses’

‘Off’s biting more than he could chew’, Tay clicks his tongue and raised his brow at their men. He had recruited most of them himself, starting from the ripe young age of fifteen, most of them have grown to be just the men he would typically avoid. Their teeth yellow and gums darkened, hair rough and dry whilst their skin was painted a measly colour of something pale and green and their coughs were hoisted with phlegm. They lived in filth and Tay didn’t have the integrity to live amongst them, unlike his eldest brother, ‘Oy! Boys! What did he do to David Buggy Boy?’, Tay shouted at the Slashers, clapping his hands to gain their attention.

The boys stood up at the sound of his voice, buttoning their coats and walking obediently towards him.

‘Off with his hand’, one of the boys repeated with a smug smirk hanging off his lips to which Arm started to laugh.

‘Is that all?’, Tay asked.

‘No. He took the son’, another Slasher informed them, ‘He’s under his care now. He’s gonna raise him to lead Peckham’

‘Does he think that young boy is gonna swear loyalty to him after he cut his father’s hands?’, Tay scoffed. Off had a habit of keeping his plans a secret, even to his brothers, so Tay only finds out after it had been played. It annoyed the fuck out of him.

‘It’s his plans. We just follow’, the boys reminded him and Tay rolled his eyes and snatched the bottle of whisky from his little brother’s hands, pouring himself another glass, ‘Where the fuck even is he?’

* * *

Off glanced from the windows of a café, a cup of black coffee placed on the table along with this morning’s newspaper.

_Three bodies found with hands severed. Killer not found._

‘Did you do that?’, he heard a dainty voice interrupt his peaceful morning. He looked up to see the waitress with long dark hair, tied perfectly in a ponytail as a black apron was wrapped tightly around her curved waist. She had a mean look, but he knew it was only targeted to him.

‘How awfully rude of you to think I would do such a thing’, Off commented, leaning his back a little as she hastily placed a small plate of sugar cubes beside his coffee.

‘Their hands are severed’

‘Which is exactly why I didn’t do it’, Off replied, ‘If I wanted them dead, then they’d still have their hands’

‘I can’t believe you gave me Buggy Boy’s son’, she hissed at him as she cleared the empty table beside him, her back bending a little, accentuating her curves.

‘You said you had a spare room’

‘I’m not a Slasher’, she whispered to him, ‘Don’t get me involved’

‘I was only asking you to care for a poor orphaned boy’, Off chuckled, to which the waitress kicked his chair out of irritation as she went back to the kitchen. Off took fun in annoying his childhood mate. But when she disappeared, he turned his gaze back down at the newspaper and looked at the photograph. He could already tell the killer was an amateur with the way they discarded the body and how rough they treated it after the killing. Off calculated that it might take Scotland Yard a couple of weeks to crack or if they actually have skilled sons of bitches, maybe even days. He took a sugar cube, dropping it to his coffee as he stirred it around whilst idly watching the people pass him by. It was a privilege to sit and watch early in the morning, with time on his side, he could spend the whole day here if he wanted to. Most of his working hours began when the sun goes down anyway.

‘For the love of God, can you control your little brother?’, the waitress comes back from the kitchen and throws a napkin at him. It landed on his table and he saw the words written on them in rough ink.

_Kill Arm._

He sighed as he took it, folding the napkin to fit inside his pockets. His little brother had a niche of making small enemies around town.

‘I’ll have my men compensate for his damages’, Off promised, ‘He’s just a little-’

‘He’s not a little boy anymore’, Alice raised her voice a little, to which she quickly turned to check if she disrupted the other customers. To her sigh of relief, they didn’t bother to look up at her, ‘He can’t go around acting like this. He’ll get himself killed’

‘He’s a Slasher’, Off reminded her, ‘He won’t die any time soon’

‘I’m warning you Off’, Alice glared down at him, ‘Keep your brother inline’

* * *

‘You want me to take over the case?’, Attaphan spat his coffee as Inspector Craine called for him once more to his office, locking the door and closing the blinds, ‘I mean, I could do it, but do you want me to?’

Attaphan was a rogue, and by that, he’s a detective that doesn’t necessarily play by the books. It had gotten their station in trouble multiple times, more often than not, Inspector Craine having to apologise to the media and government officials for the young man’s unorthodox actions. The only reason why he hadn’t been fired yet was that in every case that Attaphan was involved, he solved every single one of them.

‘I don’t want you to head the case’, Inspector Craine informed him, ‘I need you to be the eyes and ears’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘I need you to keep a close eye on those Slashers’

‘I told you sir’, Attaphan sighed, sliding his hands in his pockets after he set his drink down, ‘It’s not them’

‘I’m not taking chances’, Inspector Craine whispered to him, ‘I heard they’ve started to expand their businesses. Sooner or later, they’ll infiltrate the whole of London and it won’t be the law-keeping this city in order. It’ll be those pesky Slashers!’

‘You’re getting paranoid sir’, Attaphan rolled his eyes and glanced worriedly at his superior who was getting frustrating at every second, ‘They’re just a bunch of rowdy trouble makers. Soon enough, Scotland Yard will diminish them in a couple of months’

‘Don’t be too confident Attaphan’, Inspector Craine warned him, pointing a finger at the newspaper, ‘Those rowdy bunch of trouble makers have no morals’

‘So, why do you wanna keep an eye on them?’

‘Rowdy makes the most noise’, Inspector Craine looked outside of his office window to which the view of the streets was evidently busy and loud, ‘They work best in chaos, and I have a feeling that chaos is coming’

* * *

‘What’re you gonna do with Chimon?’, Tay asked as soon as Off entered their office in Camden. He had their workers placing in bets on numerous matches and horse race for the upcoming weeks. He heard the quick tapping of typewriters and swift swishes of telephones as he passed the desks where his brother was waiting for him.

Tay had always been an observer, but more importantly, he was the little devil which lived inside his ears most of the time, questioning his every move until he had no choice but to answer.

‘We raise him as our own’, Off stated matter of factly as he took off his coat, throwing it on one of the spare chairs as they headed inside one of the private offices.

‘Raise him as our own?!’, Tay shouted at him as soon as the door closed, ‘Are you insane? You cut off his father’s hands’

‘He’ll thank us for that later’, Off sighed, sitting down in his office chair. He opened one of his drawers where a line of cigars presented itself to him. He took one out and lit it, placing it between his lips.

‘What do you mean?’, Tay asked, ‘He’ll take revenge as soon as he’s strong enough. You should’ve cut off his hands too and tell the Green Sword Gang to disband’

‘Research, Tay’, Off blew out the grey smokes, ignoring his brother’s frantic rants towards him, ‘You need to know your enemies well’

‘What don’t we know about Buggy Boy?’, Tay scoffed at him, ‘I was the one who told you about his gin export business in Peckham’

‘I don’t mean business’, Off chuckled, ‘I mean personal’

‘What’re you talking about?’

‘Buggy Boy doesn’t care much about his eldest. Not when he has thirteen other bastard children running around’, Off told his brother, ‘Although, most of them are too young or live too far away to contact’

‘Okay, so the old man has more than one kid’, Tay shrugged his shoulders, ‘What’s that got to do with anything’

‘It means he doesn’t give a shit about his children’, Off blew out another cloud of smoke from his lungs, ‘Alice checked him. He had marks and scars all over him’

‘What?’

‘The boy was abused’, Off mentioned, ‘Chimon was practically relieved as soon as we left Peckham’

‘And his mother?’

‘Well, he said he loved his mother’, the eldest replied, resting his cigar on his fingers, ‘But she didn’t do anything to help him, so we’ll just use that to form bitterness’

‘You’re gonna force him to hate his mother?’

‘It won’t be too hard. He’s halfway there already’, Off sighed out, finally looking up at his brother, the two of them sharing an unspoken look.

Tay clicked his tongue and suddenly burst out laughing. Off joined him a little later, the brothers sharing a moment of pure bliss once they realised, they officially bagged Peckham with Buggy Boy’s eldest son under their hostage.

‘Peckham’s all ours’, Tay announced once he stopped laughing, ‘Well done brother’

‘Thanks, brother’, Off smiled, ‘But I suggest we lay low until we moved our Slashers down South’

‘Why’s that?’

‘There’s a killer on the loose’, Off informed Tay to which the latter only chuckled at the excuse. There were many killers on the loose and it didn’t stop them from continuing their operations even though Scotland Yard was running around their streets. The police were in no rights to start searching their businesses when they had killers to catch. But Off remembered his conversation with Alice and it left a curious assumption hanging inside his mind.

Despite the rookie mistake from the killer, the violent streeks and inexplicable deaths of three innocent people hung a bitter smell in the city which scared most civilians into complying with the police this time. If they ever want to create a successful operation in Peckham, they can’t get in the way of the police. Not this time. He had a great sense of feeling that a storm might be brewing – and his assumptions were always close to accurate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic might have slow updates cos I wanna focus on my other fics.


	2. 02

‘The coppers are here’, Tay called out when Off walked into their home office, just outside Camden.

‘What for?’, he sighed, blowing out his pipe as he looked down on his pocket watch.

09.21 am.

‘Alright boys, gather around’, Off clapped his hand and banged his fist on the table, gaining every Slasher’s attention. The morning had just entered, yet papers of cheques and equities have already started flooding in due to last night’s rave in Camden market. They hit the jackpot when Off spotted a group of well-tailored men with silver cuffs and reddened eyes, ‘We’ve got our shares ready to split’

‘The coppers are looking for us’, Tay went on, following his brother behind as he slid his hands in his pockets, nervously picking at the thread inside, ‘It’s about the fucking killer’

‘Didn’t I tell you to keep a low profile?’, Off reminded his brother, ‘If you’ve kept the bar quiet, then we don’t have to worry’

‘They’re looking for you Off’, Tay whispered when they noticed their men coming forward and taking their fair share of the prize. His brother’s voice was low, barely a whisper yet it was still gruff. Tay had always been a loudmouth, but when he was nervous, his tone would often change and it brought him to grab his brother by the cuff, leading him off to the corner of the hallway with battling eyes looking through him.

‘Coppers look for me every day’, Off whispered, ‘This one won’t be any different’

‘Be careful’, Tay replied, handing him a rolled newspaper, stained with mud and ripped around the edges, but when Off uncurled it, his eyes landed on new headlines for the day.

_Two new bodies found. Hands slashed off completely._

‘This killer’s smarter than Scotland Yard’

‘No’, Off sighed, rolling the paper and throwing it back on Tay’s chest, ‘They’re just mad’

* * *

‘No cars’

‘Are you insane?’

‘No car’, Inspector Craine pointed at accused finger at Attaphan, ‘You’re no longer a detective’

‘I can’t believe I’ve agreed to this’, he sighed as he grabbed his badge and name card from his inside pocket, slamming it on his boss’s desk as he watched him close the blinds, darkening the room with nothing more than their silhouettes facing each other, ‘They have nothing to do with the murders’

‘Listen here Attaphan’, Inspector Caine announced, his voice growling like a wolf, his eyes shedding in red, ‘The Slashers run London, the _real_ London. They know every bastard, Lord and whores running down those streets’

‘So what?’

‘So’, Inspector Craine glared down at him, ‘It’s your job to rip every name out of their mouths and hand them to me. This killer has connections and I wanna know why’

‘Connections?’, Attaphan looked down the newspaper once Inspector Craine turned on his desk light, shedding a light on the picture on the front page. The rookie detective squinted his eyes, taking out his round spectacle, adjusting his vision.

_Mary Anne & Michael Watson._

‘Two new victims’

‘Not just any other victims’, Inspector Craine groaned, ‘Mary Anne is a Baron’s daughter. Baron Corbyn’

Attaphan looked at the young girl’s photo. She couldn’t be any older than seventeen years of age and it begged to question what a young upper-class girl was doing on the lower scraps of London. Or was she dragged out of Chelsea or the other high state boroughs? Either way, a girl like her shouldn’t have been on the front page like this.

‘The killer’s got a motive’, Inspector Craine whispered in his ears, passing on a secret he knew he could never give away, ‘And I think a Slasher knows it’

* * *

_‘Dig you bastards! Dig!’_

_Shells exploded as the oranges ran across the barren landscape. Trenches drowned out his scent with mud and blood, fires of ammunition and guns making his ears ring until he couldn’t see anymore, his vision blurred in white specs._

_‘Dig! Dig!’_

_His hands were shaking, fingers shivering until his gun fell from his hands._

_‘Bastards! Dig!’_

_‘Jumpol! Jumpol! Get up! Pick up your gun and get up!’_

_He looked down at his gun which rested on the mud. His eyes were quivering when he turned a little to the right, seeing his gun accompanying a body already deeply embedded in the mud._

_‘Pick up your gun!’_

_‘Boy! Pick up your gun!’_

_‘Jumpol!’_

_He turned around when he felt the grown shaking, his left ear completely deaf as he fell on the ground, knees deep in blood._

_‘Incoming!’_

* * *

‘Off, wake up!’

Off breathed in a huge breath, his lungs aching as oxygen-filled his rotten lungs. He coughed a little, staring into nothing as he waited for the white specs to disappear from his vision.

‘Copper’s here’, it was Tay’s voice who shook him awake. Despite his grovel and boisterous tone, he still had a way to calm him awake whenever he dozed off in his office.

‘Aye, let him in’, Off rubbed his eyes, coughing a little as he sat up straight on his chair, opening his drawer to pick up a cigar.

‘Mr Adulkittporn’, his name was called and with it came a hefty man, middle-aged, greying hair and a moustache hiding the sarcastic smile he had on once he stepped into the infamous office, ‘Nice to see you again’

‘Sir Winston’, Off nodded, lighting up his cigar and blowing out the grey smokes, ‘What can I do to help?’

‘You must’ve heard of the new killer on the loose’, he sighed, looking around his office, ‘Got quite a hobby that seems kin to yours’

‘I have no hobbies’, Off smiled, blowing out grey between them. The blinds were closed, no shadows greeted between the two figures in the office, ‘I’m a working man, and we both know working men are too busy’

‘Ah yes’, Mr Winston looked down on the man who never bothered to stand up and greet him. The son of a whore had a better suit than his best nines, the cigar which he held lazily between his crusted fingers costed more than his daily wages and the nonchalant eyes he displayed showed a man who had not lifted a fucking finger. A vile man like Off Jumpol repulsed him and if he wasn’t ordered by his superior, he would have shut him in the head right there and then.

‘Call all your Slashers and line them up’, Mr Winston ordered him, ‘Send the ones you think are suspicious and we’ll deal with the rest’

‘I’m not giving up my men because you folks don’t know how to look in the right direction’

‘All victims had their hands cut and dumped into the Thames’, Mr Winston glared at him, his hands resting on his desk, nails scratching on the wood, ‘I think we’re looking exactly where we need to look’

‘Alright then’, Off smirked a little, tapping his cigar and letting the ashes fall straight onto the varnished wood, ‘Let’s strike a deal’

‘No, this is an order from-’

‘I will not send my men for questioning without reparation’, Off simply stated. He finally stood up, grabbing the wooden cane which rested by the side of his desk, ‘I want the Coppers to fall asleep in Newham’

‘What are you going to do in Newham?’

‘I want you asleep’, Off retorted again, his voice stern and commanding, ‘As soon as you close your eyes, I’ll gather up my men and talk to ‘em’

Mr Winston stood in the middle of the office; his shoes muddied on the carpet as he slid his hands inside his pocket. He clenched his teeth and kept his stare on the young man with a cane, viable of all his problems ever since his return from the war.

‘Fine by me Mr Adulkittiporn’, he hissed, ‘I’ll retract my men by tonight’

‘Pleasure doing business with you’, Off reached out, his hands gloved, waiting for Mr Winston to shake, but the man just looked at it in utter disgust.

‘I want them by tomorrow morning’, he turned back and opened the door, slamming it shut as he escaped the Adulkittiporn Home Office.

‘What the fuck are you thinking?’, Tay opened the blinds, shedding the first shade of sunlight in the office, blinding Off a little as a squinted his eyes and took a cigarette from inside his coat pocket, ‘Why’re you sending our men to the caves? And for fucking Newham of all places?’

His younger brother had a voice that reeked of too much weight and it gave Off headaches. He sighed as he walked over to his whisky drawer, pulling out a 1903 as he poured himself a drink.

‘There’s nothing fucking happening in Newham’, Tay shouted at his oldest brother, ‘We’re not sending men for scraps’

‘We’re not taking Newham’, Off finally replied, leaning on his cane as he took a drink.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Mr Winston will send his men to keep a close eye on Newham. We settle a couple of our legal businesses there so we can take off the scent’, Off explained, feeling the bitter whisky run down his throat as he looked at his brother, ‘But, our real business is in Tower Hamlets’

‘What?’

‘There’s a new dog racing track. It’s owned by someone named Gunsmile’

‘Who the fuck calls himself Gunsmile’, Tay snorted, leaning on his brother’s bookshelves.

‘Someone who smiles when he kills’, his brother replied, which took the smile right out of his face, ‘He’s from a newer gang, still growing, but I wanna keep an eye on him’

‘You’re paranoid? Since when is Off Jumpol paranoid?’

‘Since a fucking nobody got a licence to open a race track bang in the middle of East London’, Off downed the rest of the whisky, groaning a little as he held onto the watch inside his coat pocket, ‘We hold him down, we might have the chance to grow our little family’

‘You’ve already taken in Green Sword in Peckham. What the fuck do you need from an unknown gang?’

‘I wanna know that I could last in this damn city without my hands being cut off’, his brother simply replied, smiling as he turned to face Tay.

The brothers began laughing, one out of bitterness and one out of utter entertainment at what the coming months might unfold.

* * *

‘He can’t read’

‘Are you fucking serious?’, Arm snickered, blowing out grey smokes as he listened to Alice. The woman had walked into their bar unannounced. They hadn’t seen her since she left and it was surprised for the two brothers that she had kept close contact with their eldest.

‘Off put you in charge of taking care of his rival’s son?’, Tay asked, ignoring her sudden announcement as he cleaned the glasses, standing behind the bar, ‘Looks like you’re still a Slasher’

‘I’m not a fucking Slasher’, Alice growled, banging her fists on his table, ‘I need Off now. Where is he?’

‘In Peckham, making his fucking presence known’, Arm laughed a little, stealing a bottle of scotch from his brother’s drawer.

‘His presence is already known. It’s even reaching the West’, Alice sighed. Tay noticed the expression on her face and he knows she still worried about the boy.

‘Here’, Tay slid a glass of whisky to her direction and he chuckled when she caught it, downing it in one go and slamming it back down in a little less than five seconds. She had always been as rough as Off, even more so. Some times he’d thought Off got his rogue nature from Alice, two peas in a pod. Too bad the war separated them.

‘Chimon needs a tutor’

‘Let him die. If he can’t read, we have no use for him’

‘You couldn’t read until you were sixteen’, Alice bit back, ‘Chimon’s only fourteen’

Tay started laughing, clapping his hands as he watched Arm clenched teeth, his nails digging into his thighs as he stopped himself. Arm had been rogued since he was twelve, fighting in the streets and causing trouble in the middle of the night. No one was there to control him – no one but Alice.

‘Why don’t you just teach him?’, Tay suggested, ‘You taught Arm’

‘I have a job now’, Alice replied, ‘Two. One at the café and the other in-’

‘Shoreditch’, Arm finished her sentence, his eyes glaring between flames and waves, ‘You work in the fucking night club in Shoreditch’

‘I work as a barmaid’, Alice glared at the young boy, ‘And you should stop fucking stalking me’

‘Look, when it comes to Chimon, Off wants to treat him like a goddamn prince, so just fucking teach him how to read and get on with it’

‘I don’t have fucking time’, she shouted back, ‘I work night and day. Fuck, I’ve already opened my apartment to the boy. I feed him too’

‘Alright’, Tay sighed. He went over to the cashier, opening it up with a ping, taking out a couple of notes, ‘Here’s five pounds and ten shillings’, Tay passed on the money to her, ‘Hire a tutor. Get a smartass to teach him and tell ‘em he’s your cousin coming over from fucking Wales or some shit’

‘You think they won’t recognise Buggy Boy’s kid?’, Alice scoffed. The three Adulkittiporn brothers operated much like how the body operated, with Off acting as the brains, Tay as the heart and Arm as a dick. That’s why she often got along with Tay, the artist of the three brothers, one who was light-hearted and trusting. If he wasn’t an Adulkittiporn, he would’ve been found dead on the streets with his carefree attitude.

‘Then what the fuck do you want me to do? Huh?’

‘Excuse me? Do you own this place?’

The three looked at the front entrance, watching as the door swing open, forcing the sunlight to reach down their underground bar as a small man – most probably in his early twenties – walking in. He was scruffy. He had on a white oversized shirt tucked in his pants, he also had on a peaked cap, hiding half his face.’

And who are you to ask?’, Arm shouted back, slouching his back and squinting his eyes from the sunlight, ‘Who the fuck are you?’

‘My name’s Att’

* * *

‘Att Byrne?’, the detective looked through the files of his new identity, holding his birth certificate upon the sunlight, reading the stamp pasted by the side, confirming that a so-called orphan, Att Byrne who lived in Derbyshire, ‘Of all names to give me?’

‘Just deal with it’, Inspector Craine lit his cigarette, ‘You’re heading straight into the Lion’s Den, so make sure you memorise every piece of information given to you, alright?’

Attaphan leaned on the brick wall right outside Scotland Yard, Police Station, in his new attire which wasn’t as closely admirable as his usual clothes. He had a backpack of things and a few more files ready and waiting to show to Slashers who don’t believe me.

‘What makes you think they’ll let me work for them?’

‘They’re a group of troubled men with troubled minds’, Inspector Craine called out, ‘They welcome anyone who shared their own dark spirits’, he tossed the papers back to Attaphan, ‘An orphan boy, beaten and abused, ran away from the orphanage and had been travelling for work ever since. They’ll take you in a heartbeat’

‘They’re a gang, not welfare’, Attaphan chuckled, taking out the pocket watch hidden inside his old coat pocket as he handed it to Inspector Craine. He didn’t let his boss see as he slipped the piece of gold inside his pockets, ‘They’re gonna kill me’

‘Seek for a man name Tay’, Inspector Craine rested his hand on Attaphan’s shoulder, ‘He’s the second oldest and the owner of the bar. He’ll take you in if you reach out’

‘Him? Why not the eldest?’, Attaphan asked, ‘I heard he’s in charge’

‘He’s ruthless and vile’, were the first words used to describe the infamous leader that had been earning his presence in every detective’s mind the moment they stepped foot in London, ‘You don’t wanna approach him. Keep a close eye on his second in command and once they gain your trust, go to him. Until then, use the heart before you shoot the brain’

‘The heart?’

‘As I said’, Inspector Craine looked at him one last time, this time with worrying eyes as he sends off his best man into the filth, ‘Seek out Tay’

* * *

‘Tay Tawan?’

‘How do you know me?’

‘I heard about you when I was asking for work’, the boy under the Att replied, walking until he’s facing the tall man behind the bar. Two were sitting by his side, one man keeping a glaring eye at him.

‘Who?’

‘Just a few passing workers from the factory. They said I was too short to join them’

‘You bloody well are’, Arm spoke out, laughing as he hurled himself over and eyed at the boy again, ‘How old are you anyway?’

‘I believe I’m older than you’

‘Did you just fucking talk back to me?’, Arm stood up, kicking his chair back and stomping forward. He stopped when Alice grabbed his collar, pulling him back. Tay laughed at the small man’s bravery. No one who’d ever set foot in Camden could even look at Arm in the eye, let alone speak back to him. He found the man a little interesting.

‘Where you from?’

‘Derbyshire’

‘What’re you doing all the way down here?’, Tay asked with suspicious eyes, ‘You’re a country boy’

‘And an orphan’, Att explained, ‘I’ve been travelling down south for work’

‘An orphan?’, Arm snickered, ‘Then line up to Shoreditch and sell your body to anyone willing to pay you. That’ll be the only way for you to make money’

‘They said I can work here’, Att ignored him, only speaking directly to Tay, ‘I’m capable, I promise’

‘I’d love to take you in’, Tay smiled at him, pouring himself a drink, ‘But the job’s been filled’

‘By whom?’

‘By me’, the man chuckled, ‘This is my bar and only I get to control what goes in and what goes out’

Alice stared at the man, looking at his figure up and down. Despite being a beggar and an orphan, his body was lumped with far, rosy cheeks displayed on his face and hair that doesn’t look like it’s walked through the ashes and smokes of a factory or sweatshop.

‘Where from Derbyshire are you from?’

‘Amber Valley’

Alice whistled in impression, smiling at the rich orphan who managed to find his way into the hands of three grimy men without his own knowledge.

‘Did they teach you how to read and write in the orphanage?’

‘Uh… Yeah’, Att nodded, coughing a little, ‘Have you got any other spare positions I can take?’

‘If you can read and write, why seek a job down here when you can go up there?’, Tay questioned him, finishing his whisky as he scrunched his nose and waited patiently. The boy’s peaked cap looked scratched and old, his clothes looked stolen, but his skin looked fresh, not a dent of scars or flaking burnt skin. It was like he was clothed in poor but is a hidden rich.

‘I have no qualifications sir’

‘Sir?’, Tay busted out laughing, ‘No one’s ever called me sir before!’, Arm joined in with his brother, the two howling like a pack of wolves, banging their clawed fists on the table and making fun of the poor boy.

‘Five pounds and ten shillings a month’, Alice slid the money that was previously given to her, handing over the blood to the little boy, ‘You teach my boy how to read and write’

‘You’re entrusting Chimon to this orphan?’, Arm scoffed, ‘Are you insane?’

‘None of yous wants to teach him and no one in this damn city has the balls to say yes’, Alice argued back, turning down Arm’s words before the young man could start howling again, ‘This man says he could read and write and it’s his first time in London. Right?’

‘Just arrived this morning’

Good’, Alice grabbed her bag. She stole a pen from Tay’s shirt pocket, scribbling a messy address on the back of an empty packet of cigarettes, ‘Come here tomorrow morning. Don’t be late cos I have work in the morning’

‘Is this a Slasher’s work?’, Att called out to her before she could walk away, making her frozen in her tracks.

‘You said you came to London today’, she turned around, her face hard and eyes glazed over with something between fear and intimidation, ‘How have you heard about us?’

‘Us?’, Arm smiled at her sentence, standing up and sliding his hands in his pockets, ‘Us Slashers?’. Alice rolled her eyes and ignored him, sliding her hands inside her pockets.

‘The factory workers said Slashers will always give out a job to anyone who asks’, Att nervously replied, his hands slightly shaking as he held onto the empty packet.

‘You bet your ass we do’, Tay laughed, ‘And by all means, teaching this kid means you’re officially associated with the Slashers’, Tay turned to look at Alice, directing the comment to her too, but she didn’t budge. Instead, she glared at the two brothers before walking away, slamming the door shut behind her.

‘She’s tough’, Tay whispered, ‘But I think Off might be able to bring her back’, he said to which Arm smiled at his assumptions, picking up his chair and sitting down. He shouted for his brother to pour him another drink.

Att stayed in his place, looking down at the address.

‘Off you go boy’, Tay shouted at him when he noticed the orphan hadn’t budged yet, ‘You’ve got an early start tomorrow’

‘Uhh…’, Att sighed a deep breath and closed his eyes, ‘Do you know any place for me to stay for the night?’

Tay and Arm raised their brows when they turned back mid-drink, looking down to find a small backpack on the floor beside the man’s feet.

‘You arrived in London this morning, right?’

‘Yeah’

‘Well then. Wait for Off to come back and he might offer a roof over your head’

‘Off?’

‘Off Jumpol’

* * *

Off walked into his apartment after a day’s work in Peckham. He gave Buggy Boy’s men a choice, to stay and work for him, or to leave. Least to say, he had to order a few commands more than he had expected. He didn’t know the rats would be loyal to him. But, with Chimon under his wings, some still choose to stay and that was more than he could ask for before the Slashers infiltrate the rest of the district.

He didn’t bother visiting his brothers in the bar. He had told them to run it without him for the night. His lack of sleep had been making his head spin, eyes speckled with white dust and he needed his rest.

He discarded his suit, throwing it on the bed as he took off his shirt, looking down at his gloved hands. The leather was tight, becoming the second skin that he didn’t want to take off.

_Get up! Bastard! Get up!_

He closed his eyes and turned to look at the mirror hung from one of the walls inside his bedroom. Peckham had become a big handle that was slowly taking his toll on him and he had to get his head straight if he wants to infiltrate Tower Hamlets soon.

Off closed his eyes and took a deep breath, counting in one, two, threes, before he opened his eyes and took off his gloves.

He was about to make his way to the bathroom for a shower when he heard clattering from his kitchen. His immediate instinct was to freeze, closing his eyes and letting his skin feel the wind.

_Bedroom window closed. Living room windows closed. Kitchen windows closed._

He felt no cold winds slapping his skin and he realised that no one could get into his apartment. So, who was in the kitchen?

He took his gloves, putting it back on tightly as he grabbed his wooden cane. He held his breath, feet taking one slow step at a time as he continued to listen to the rattling sounds. He can feel a soul in his home and he gripped his cane tighter as soon as that soul’s shadows started dancing under the kitchen’s light.

‘Get down on the floor now!’, he screamed as he kicked the door open, raising his cane as he grabbed onto the body, about to attack when he looked into his eyes.

_Golden. Like honey._

‘Woah, woah, woah, please don’t hurt me!’, the boy screamed at him under him, his hands reached out to hold onto his gloved ones.

‘Who the fuck are you?’, Off asked, his hand still gripped tightly around the boy’s shirt, ‘And what do you want from me?’

‘Tay sent me here… He said I can stay here for the night!’

‘Tay?’, Off’s hand only softened at the sound of his brother’s name, ‘Why did Tay send you here’

‘He said you might give me a place to stay’

‘Are you a whore?’

‘What?’

‘Did my brother send you here so I can fuck you?’

The boy gained his senses back and pushed him away, straightening his shirt and glaring at him.

‘I work for someone called Alice’, the boy replied, Off recognising a second name which made him stand down completely.

‘And what do you do for her?’

‘I’m going to tutor her son. His name is Chimon’

‘Ah’, Off nodded, ‘So why the fuck are you here?’

‘I’ve told you. Tay said I can stay here until you give me a place to stay’

‘Did he recruit you?’

‘I think so’

Off breathed out a little, resting his hands on his waist as he looked at the boy up and down. He was young and scruffy, but there was a gentle look on his face that made him look a little too innocent to become a Slasher. Off thought, his brother might have recruited him out of pity, probably on the verge of death or running away from the Shoreditch pimps.

‘Tay might have recruited you, but you have no place here’, Off finally spoke to him, ‘Get out’

‘I have nowhere else to stay’

‘If Tay sent you here, then you can sleep in his bar’, Off pointed at him, ‘Now get out’

‘My name is Att by the way’, the boy called out to him when he walked back to the halls from the kitchen. He turned around, not because he needed to, but for a moment, he wanted to look at those golden eyes again. They looked familiar but he knew he would never forget those eyes if he’d seen them before.

‘I don’t care’

‘But I’m going to be part of your gang. Shouldn’t you know the names of your workers?’

‘My men do whatever they want as long as I tell them what to do first’, Off replied, ‘If you wanna be a Slasher, you should know that nothing is personal. Including your name, so fuck off and sleep in the bar’, he slammed his bedroom door shut, parting from the strange boy with the golden eyes.

‘Fucking cunt’, Attaphan whispered under his breath as he grabbed his bag and walked out of the kitchen, slamming the doors shut and walking out of the apartment block.


	3. 03

Atthaphan thought it was useless. He waited at the dead end of an alley outside Camden Market. It was morning but he couldn’t see the sun, it was heavily buried in the midst of smoke and dust. He coughed a little, hiding his face under his peaked hat.

‘You spoke to Off?’, Inspector Craine’s silhouette welcomed itself to Atthaphan’s view, the young detective groaned in meticulous annoyance. He wanted to be the one to explain it to his superior, but it seemed as though someone else must’ve spilt the information.

‘Tay wanted me to stay in his apartment’

‘You went over to his apartment?!’, his superior’s voice was loud, growling like a furious hound, ‘That is exactly what I told you not to do’

‘What did you expect? I’m not going to waste my time entertaining his dogs when I could just talk to him’

‘His brothers aren’t his dogs’, Inspector Craine shouted, ‘His brothers’ are his second in command! They’re practically just as powerful as him!’

‘I wouldn’t think so’, Atthaphan murmured to himself, ‘The youngest doesn’t even look like he knows what he’s doing’

‘You’ve met Arm too?’, Inspector Craine asked, his brow furrowed in frustration. It was the little things that he asked that Atthaphan refused to follow, and he should’ve learnt his lesson from their previous cases.

‘He’s a freakshow’, he exclaimed, ‘You can’t expect me to follow their orders?’

‘You’re an orphan boy looking for a job in London, you have no rights to pick and choose which orders you wanna follow’, the inspector slapped the back of his head, clearly having enough from Atthaphan’s tantrums, ‘Act like a measly orphan, will you? And lose some weight, you look too plump to be a beggar on the streets’

‘Gee, why don’t I just cut my skin off with a knife?’, he spoke back, sarcasm oozing from his voice as he fought back Inspector Craine. Despite the old’s man reputation which hung around the air in the office, stopping everyone from even uttering a word against him, Atthaphan had gotten used to fighting back. He’d fought worse monsters in the dark streets of London, Inspector Craine was a breeze amongst the storm.

‘Keep your head down and whatever you do. Do not gain the attention of Off Jumpol. Got it?’, Inspector Craine warned him one last time as he passed a folder of paperwork, each containing files of information about the three brothers that his superior managed to snag from the main office, ‘This is all the help I could give you. So, don’t blow your cover’

* * *

‘Who was that boy you sent to my room?’, Off asked as soon as Tay arrived in his office. There was nothing unusual in his stature, in fact, Off seemed to be well rested compared to his recent days. His hands were covered in leather gloves, his hair combed back and a cigar resting between his dried lips.

‘Oh, you mean Att?’, Tay smirked as soon as the question was thrown at him, ‘He’s the tutor we hired for Chimon’, his brother explained, ‘He’s an orphan who’s looking for a job and a place to stay. I didn’t have any spare rooms for him, so I sent him to your apartment’

‘And why the fuck would you do that?’, his brother’s playful demeanour was unwelcomed, especially when Tay stared at him with a pair of haunting eyes.

‘You need to relax and I thought he was cute’, he simply replied.

‘He’s too young’

‘Oh, come on, he’s probably only a few years younger than you. Probably twenty-six?’

‘I don’t mean by age’, Off huffed, standing up from his desk, ‘I meant from experience. That boy looked like he never lifted a finger’

‘He’s an orphan, like all of us’, Tay reminded him as he leaned on the bookshelf and grabbed himself a cigarette from inside his pockets, ‘I’m sure he’s been through everything we did’

‘Orphan, huh? He doesn’t look like it’

‘How do you know?’

‘Look at his hands next time’, Off mentioned to his brother before he buttoned his jacket, grabbing his cane from the side of his desk, ‘He has no scar’

* * *

‘Hi, my name is Att’

‘Chimon’, the young boy replied with his name as they sat in Alice’s kitchen. It was a little awkward, especially when Alice left them early in the morning with no rules or guidelines with how the job works. She simply ordered Att to teach Chimon how to read before rushing out and slamming the front door close.

‘So, do you at least know the alphabet?’, he asked the young boy, to which he shook his head. Atthaphan didn’t want to judge, how could he? The boy looked like he’d lived in the slums all his life, he couldn’t expect him to learn how to read. He’d just have to suck it up and do as he’s told, just like what Inspector Craine said, ‘Why don’t we start with that then?’

‘Are you a Slasher?’, Chimon asked as soon as he opened one of the books given to him by Alice. He stared at him, biting his lip as he faked a smile.

‘I was just recently employed by Alice to teach you to read. So, I wouldn’t say I’m a Slasher’

‘Are you going to be?’

‘I’m here to teach you how to read. Why’re you concerned on whether I’m part of their gang or not?’

‘I was just curious’, Chimon replied innocently, ‘I haven’t seen Off since he dropped me here’

‘He was the one who took you?’, Atthaphan asked, curiosity getting the better of him, even though he was supposed to avoid asking too many questions, but he supposed the teenager wasn’t going to get suspicious. He looked naïve enough.

‘Yeah. He said he won’t let me in the gang until I’m ready’

‘And do you want to be a Slasher?’, he asked, but all he got was silence, the young boy looking down at the untouched books in front of them. It only took him thirty seconds to notice the small bandages displayed around his arms, stitched cuts everywhere and he could only wonder where it came from, ‘Do you think he saved you?’

‘I know he did’, Chimon finally replied to him, ‘I just don’t know whether he freed me from one cage so he could put me in another one’

‘That’s a sensible way of thinking’, Atthaphan nodded, he reached his hand out to open a torn book, sliding it towards Chimon, ‘But let me teach you the alphabet first, then you can worry about that later’

* * *

‘You let the boy sleep in Tay’s bar?’, Alice growled at him as she slid his coffee on the table, glaring at the man who had started to frequently visit her during work.

‘And what do you suppose I do?’, Off asked, staring at the window and avoiding eye contact, ‘Entertain him in my own home?’

‘At least let him sleep on the floor, he came from far away. He must’ve been tired’, Alice whispered back as she cleared the table beside him.

‘He didn’t look tired’, Off whispered, letting the breeze from the open door sweep his uncombed hair, ‘In fact, he looked a little too full for an orphan boy’

‘What the hell are you talking about?’

‘You’ve seen enough orphan boys passing by, he looks too healthy’

‘He ran away from the orphanage when he was seventeen and it’s been a decade since then. I’m sure he got himself jobs that fed him well over the years’

‘If he did then why’s he coming over to London for a job?’, Off replied with a question, one which kept on floating in his mind when his brother informed him of a a young stranger begging for work. It all seemed to suspicious, seldom did he find a tired out man with eyes still full of life. The first time he lied eyes on the boy, he was already a living contradiction.

But before Alice could respond to his assumptions, the door slammed open, customers turning their gaze and instantly looking away when they saw Arm walking in, a cigarette resting between his lips and his hair hidden underneath a peaked hat.

In reality, Arm was not a breeze to Alice. In fact, he was a storm that was unpredictable and dangerous at the same time. He stormed into the café, causing restless stares from the customers who knew who he was. People who lived in this area cannot go on with their daily lives not knowing the three infamous brothers who secretly controlled the borough.

‘What’re you doing here?’, she hissed at him as she pretended to clean his table, trying to get him out before he caused a ruckus. The youngest out of the three always caused more of a scene, call it a youngster complex, but the only time he wasn’t overshadowed by his brothers were in fact in the punches he pulled to whoever irritated him at the slightest. He gained his nickname by Arm because of it.

‘I’m here to talk to my brother’, Arm simply replied, kicking at one of the chairs as he rested his feet on it.

‘Not in the café’, Alice whispered to the youngest, pushing his leg of the chair. She was the only one who could do that, others would’ve lost a hand – or worse – their life and the customers noticed straight away, holding their breath and waiting for Arm’s well known reaction. But in never came. Instead, he sat a little straighter, taking out his cigarette and putting out the ashes on one of the napkins before turning to face Off who waited patiently for him.

Off was never much of a talker, not even to his youngest brother, which was probably why Arm ended up the way he did. His brother was passive over his actions, only shrugging or raising a brow at his questionable antics, but forgetting about it as soon as it was mentioned.

‘It’s the orphan boy’, Arm whispered to Off, grabbing his coffee and slurping it in one go, caffeine trickling down the side of his lips.

‘His name is Att’, Alice reminded them before walking away to cater for the other customers.

‘What about him?’

‘He’s taken Chimon out’, Arm shuddered, his fingers twitching as he rubbed his temples together, ‘The Slashers saw him taking the boy around the town with no guard’

‘I can only imagine Alice not explaining the very importance of that boy to us’, Off sighed. He wasn’t angry, and if he was, he didn’t show it like his brother did. Instead, he took out his pocket watch, letting the gold rest on his gloved hands as he checked the time, looking out the window to see the city getting ready for work. The sunlight masked the dirt of the streets, but he wondered if there were any scums waiting in the shadows to two unsuspecting boys roaming in the streets with little awareness.

‘What’re we gonna do?’

‘As long as they’re still in our area, they’ll be fine’, Off replied, standing up and taking a few banknotes from his inside pocket, throwing it on the table and making his way out of the café without so much as a farewell to Alice, ‘Arm, get your boys and check the perimeters. Buggy Boy’s men might still be keeping an eye on him’

And with his brother’s orders, Arm stood up, kicking the chair on his way out as he slammed the door shut, nodding at his brother before walking the opposite way, dipping into one of the alleys and disappearing from the peripheral view of the innocent bystanders, resting his fingertips on his lips and whistling a high pitched signal for his men.

Off, on the other hand, decided to take a visit down Camden Market. He had a small hunch that he might be needed there.

* * *

‘I’ve never been here before’, Chimon gasped, walking past the numerous stalls of food being cooked right in front of him, the steam fogging up his glasses as he smelt the sweet aroma of chicken and beef along with friend vegetables and eggs.

‘It’s my first time here too’, Atthaphan lied, trying to pretend to get lost in an area he’s been to dozens of times, ‘But since we finished your lessons for the morning, I thought it wouldn’t be too bad to try some of the food here for lunch. Alice gave you pocket money, right?’, he asked the teenage boy to which Chimon turned and nodded his head with a wide grin on his face, taking out the shillings Alice had placed inside an envelop with his name written on it.

_Buggy Boy._

Atthaphan’s heard of that name before, like a passing wind during a conversation. It was probably one of the many scums who hooked up an underground organisation that they needed to shut down, but his importance wasn’t a great deal enough for the young detective to remember.

_‘Remember, when you’re associated with the Slashers, your safe places are limited. Stay in East London and only in East, got it? That’s where they have the most loyalties. Go further west and you’re dead’_

He could still hear his superior’s warnings before he parted with him wearing torn clothes and holding fake identifications. He supposed he couldn’t go further than Camden, so he made sure to keep an eye on the teenage boy even though they were saturated with Slashers. He could never be too careful.

‘Do you want one Att?’, Chimon called back when he carried a box of food, still steaming from the pan. Despite living in the slums of Peckham, Atthaphan realised Chimon’s childlike nature and naivety and he wondered where that came from.

‘No, I’m fine’, he smiled back at the boy, grabbing onto his thin wrist, feeling his bones around his hands as he dragged the boy further out of the market where the noise was scarce and the shadows hugged them away from the crowd. He wanted to listen to his superior, but Inspector Craine should’ve known better; he never listened to the rules before so there was no way in hell he was going to listen to it now.

Chimon, unaware as to why Atthaphan dragged him out of the small apartment, ate peacefully, leaning on the damp brick walls, his eyesight compromised due to the steam which blocked his glasses.

‘Let’s see if you’re that important to the Slashers’, Atthaphan whispered to himself as he stood close to the boy, looking at the ground and trying to spot a shadow approaching them.

‘Chimon’

The young boy almost dropped his food when he heard the deep voice calling out his name, recognising it instantly, a cold chill running down his spine as he began to shake.

‘Off?’

_There he is._

Atthaphan couldn’t help but smile, turning to see the man walking towards them from the alley way, his silhouette tall and distorted.

‘Didn’t I tell you to lay low?’, he spoke to the boy first, leaning his weight on his walking stick as he stood right in front of Chimon, his gloved hand resting on Chimon’s chin as he forced the boy to look up at him.

‘Uh… Att said we could have lunch out… He said…’

‘You listen to an orphan instead of me?’

‘I’m his tutor’, Atthaphan decided to step into the conversation now, reaching his hand out to tug Off’s away from the boy, ‘And if you want the boy to like you, you need to stop acting like a demon’

‘A demon?’, Off smirked, feeling a little thrown back at the orphan boy’s spiteful nature, but he never showed it. In fact, despite his initial reaction, he was amused by it, ‘I supposed housing and feeding him makes me a devil’

‘I’m just saying, be nice to the kid. He didn’t go out without your permission. He was under my supervision and I was told I was safe to roam Camden’

‘Might I ask who gave you the impression for you to talk to me like that?’, Off’s smirk faded and it was replaced with something more dark, a sinister look of pure curiosity that bored into Atthaphan’s skin. Off wasn’t like the other scums he’d arrested before. He had on a mask that was identical to his own face, a well tailored suit that made him blend in with the upper class whilst he had the scars of a poor working boy’s past. He was a walking contradiction to him.

‘Your brother hired me for an important job. I should be given some leverage, right?’

‘Yes, you’re right, my brother did hire you’, Off whispered, his voice stoic and cold like the autumn wind, ‘But I’m not my brother and if you ever talk to me like that again…’, he raised his walking stick, resting the tip of it beneath Atthaphan’s chin, pushing it a little to his throat, ‘Well, I wouldn’t give you the chance to talk to me like that again’

‘Chimon’s never had a full meal in his life’, Atthaphan continued to talk despite the walking stick on his throat, he even held his breath and tried not to look like he was affected by it, ‘Let me take care of him like I was paid to do’

‘Buggy Boy’s men are going to find out I’m feeding his son like a pig ready for slaughter and do you know what he’s gonna do to me if he finds out?’, Off merely asked with the same calm tone he always has, which made it more intimidating, ‘He’ll try to kill me’

‘Chimon’s not a pig for sacrifice’, Atthaphan squirmed when Off pushed his walking stick tighter on his throat, ‘You knew that when you took him. You weren’t gonna use him as leverage, you genuinely wanted him to get out of such a ruthless place’

‘I may not be a demon, but I’m no angel either’, Off whispered to him and for a moment, he listened to Att cough and squirm before dropping his walking stick, letting him breathe again.

‘I’m sorry’, Chimon managed to stutter out, walking straight to where Att was, holding onto his shoulder, clinging onto him like a child to its mother, ‘I promise I won’t leave the apartment again’

‘Hhm’, Off didn’t listen to him, instead he raised his brow at the sudden closeness Buggy Boy’s son already had with the so called orphan tutor. It took Alice weeks to squeeze out any information out of the boy and with just twenty four hours, Att had Chimon hugging him. For what it’s worth, Alice lost her maternal instincts a long time ago, so he couldn’t blame her for failing to get through to Chimon, but he suddenly wondered whether the boy standing in front of him might actually be a viable asset to his organisation.

‘From noon till sundown’, Off suddenly said to them, fixing the gloves on his lands as he leaned on his walking stick, ‘You must be home before the last flicker of sunlight and if not, I’ll cut your tutor’s hands off’

‘Huh?’

‘And stay in Camden’, Off pointed at the teenager, the tip of his finger warning him, ‘Never leave the East no matter the circumstances, do you understand?’

‘I’m… I’m allowed out?’

‘Only when you’re with your tutor’, Off added, turning to glare at the young man, ‘How old are you again?’

‘Twenty six’, Att replied, ‘Turning twenty seven this year’

‘Have you held a gun before?’

‘Uh…’, Att looked down on the ground and counted the cobblestones around him before looking back up at him, ‘No’

‘Come to the bar night fall’, Off replied, ‘I’ll be waiting there for you’

‘Why?’

‘You need to keep Chimon alive and you can’t do that without knowing how to hold a gun’, Off simply replied, sliding his hand in his pocket as he began to walk, passing the two of them who still stood under the shadows of the bridge, ‘Take him home before the evening ends today, got it?’

* * *

He goes by the name of Gunsmile. Why you make ask? Because he’s a bastard who kills his enemies and the last thing they see before succumbing to hell was his measly smile, golden teeth showing as he pulled the trigger.

‘I don’t like the idea of doing business with someone like him’, Tay warned his brother as he stepped foot into his brother’s car, one of the few that had been introduced into the city. He watched Off wire the car before the engines roared awake, a slow turn into the road as they passed the carriages and staring children.

‘He may be a lunatic but he’s fresh blood’, Off reminded his brother, ‘Which means he has no history or loyalties to anyone yet’

‘That rascal has no loyalty whatsoever’, Tay murmured, taking out a cigarette from inside his pocket, ‘He kills anyone that gets in his way’

‘But he knows he can’t kill me’, Off drove them out of Camden and towards Bethnal Green where a competitive dog raising track had started to gain many’s attention, ‘Plus, we can’t have two leaders in the East. If we merge and I let him control Bethnal, he’ll be under the Slashers’

‘And what makes you think he’ll agree? Huh?’, Tay snorted, ‘Not everyone admires you around here’, he blew out the grey smoke, letting it fly around his brother who seemed unfazed by it. Of course, he wasn’t, he spent a hear in the tunnels in France, so nothing could suffocate him anymore. Tay wondered if the war did more than suffocate him, since their return, his brother had become someone else, a distorted version of who he used to be.

But he couldn’t grasp his own memories of the war, let alone choke the stories about of his brother. It was a shame that they had been dispatched in different areas. He had been sent to Belgium whilst his older brother was rushed to the Western Front in France where the blood and sweat were.

All Tay knew was, ever since their return, their brother had been more ambitious, witty in his dreams and manipulative in getting them and in just a year, they had managed to widen their empire three folds.

‘I supposed you won’t have the time to settle down with a family like you told me before we separated’, Tay decided to mention their old conversation which was hazy and barely memorable, yet the drive to the recruitment centre was something Tay still couldn’t forget.

‘You’re talking about a different person’, Off warned him, ‘That person never came back from the tunnels’

‘And you think I came back from Belgium?’, Tay replied to his brother with a question, one which neither of them could answer, but despite being apart, both brothers had made sense of their time during the war and had decided never to mention it again, a silent agreement that they’ve upheld for a while now.

‘Wanna bet that Gunsmile might not share the same nightmares as us?’, Off chuckled when they arrived to the gruesome place that was Bethnal Green, streams of factory smokes shading the sky and colouring the place in greys and ashes.

* * *

‘The war? Nah mate, I wasn’t qualified to serve’, Gunsmile hurled over in laughter as soon as Off and Tay made their way inside his office, which was a rundown abandoned wine cellar underground, ‘Apparently I wasn’t healthy enough… Something about malnourishment or some shit that I don’t understand’

‘Yeah, but sir, I heard they got medals for it’, his boy, who stood by his side as Gunsmile continued to laugh, whispered in his ears, ‘They got the police drooling over them because of those medals’

‘I don’t think that’s the only reason why the police likes them’, Gunsmile coughed out as soon as he finished laughing, wiping the tears from his face as he stared at the two infamous brothers he’d been hearing about since the war had finished, ‘Your return was welcomed in the East. But maybe a little too welcomed’

‘Yeah, we heard there was a new leader emerging during our absence’, Off replied with a sigh in his tone. He felt slightly agitated being underground, looking around the damp bricked walls stashed with rotten wood, empty of any wine or champagne, ‘Someone who refused to serve the country but leech off it’s economy’

‘I’m a race track owner’, Gunsmile could only chuckle at the accusation.

‘And I’m a book maker’, such descriptions valued no amusement, but Gunsmile was a man who didn’t care for propriety nor did he respect anyone else other than himself, so he perched his leg up, letting the tip of his wine glass rest on his lips as he stared at the two boys.

‘I see you both came without reinforcements’

‘You and I both know we don’t need it’, Tay replied, ‘Not when this is our area and we’re only letting you play’

‘Letting me play?’, Gunsmile smirked, looking up at the two brothers, ‘The only reason why I’m here is cos that girl of yours was too scared to take care of me’

‘Alice did all she could’, Off nodded, sliding his hand inside his pocket which earned him suspicious stares from Gunsmile’s men, aiming their guns at him. Off was relaxed to say the least, not at all caring about their guns, but instead pulling out his pocket watch which rested idly on his gloved hands, checking the time, ‘But I’m back, so now you have to answer to me’

‘I will not bow down to a Slasher’, Gunsmile said before Off could finish speaking, ‘And you can’t change my mind on that’

‘I don’t want you to bow down to me’, Off rolled his eyes, ‘I want you to work with me’

With you?’

‘The West is getting big and they’ve gotten bigger clients over the pass couple of months’, Off explained, taking a slow step to which he sensed the guns following his every direction, but that didn’t stop him leaning on Gunsmile’s desk, looking down at the tall man with green skin and rotting gums, his teeth replaced with fake gold and his eyes red, ‘The East needs to let everyone know just how strong we are and I’m willing to form an alliance with you to keep it that way. No one from the East will ever work for the West if we put down our swords and walk hand in hand’

‘An alliance’, Gunsmile murmured, repeating the word as he grabbed his handkerchief, placing his wine glass down on the desk as he began to cough, phlegm and spit drenching his stained handkerchief, ‘I supposed a bit of peace won’t do me any harm’, he coughed out, eyeing the eldest with slit glares.

‘I’ll split the West with you’, the Slasher offered when Gunsmile refused to answer, but Tay grabbed fold of his wrist, squeezing it tight to warn him. They both knew that the West was a goldmine that only they could have, but Off knew what he was doing, because he knew every single person he ever made a deal with far better than they knew himself. And he knew Gunsmile couldn’t give a shit about the West.

‘Nah, have it for yourself’, Gunsmile shook his head, scrunching his nose in discuss at even the idea of the west, ‘Just leave the South for me’

‘South London?’, Tay scoffed, ‘What do you want the slums for?’

‘Leave it Tay’, Off whispered to his brother, ‘If he wants the South, then let him have it’

‘Yeah, that’s right Tay. Be a good dog and let the grown ups speak’, Gunsmile raised his voice to call over Tay. He’d heard his fair share of the three brothers and he knew Arm was easy to crack, but Tay was the so called sensible one, so it was the second that he had his eyes on, a smirk playing on his lips as he watched Tay’s expression change even in the slightest, meaning he had gotten to him, ‘Why don’t you stand in the corner and wait for us to finish, eh? Not like a dog understands English anyway’

‘My brother stays with me’, Off answered for him, ‘And if we have an agreement, I don’t think there’s anymore need for us to stay down here’

‘Oh, I heard about that’, Gunsmile called out when Off took a step back, noticing his discomfort, ‘They told me you’ve got the Flanders Blues. They say your eyes don’t look the same no more and sometimes they go all black cos of the ashes of the tunnels’

‘You mind keeping your mouth shut?’, Tay raised his voice to the man, wanting to step over and punch him in the face, but his brother’s hand was still gripped tightly around his wrist, forcing him in his place.

‘Aye, I have nightmares’, Off nodded, disenfranchised over the amused smile that Gunsmile had when talking about the war, ‘But I’d rather that than be known as the coward who never served their country’, he ended their meeting, sliding his hands inside his pocket and flicking a shilling up into the air where it landed on Gunsmile’s desk, leaving a clanking noise, ‘If we walk away without a fight today, I’m assuming we got ourselves a deal’

They didn’t wait for his reply, in fact, they didn’t even look back at Gunsmile as they turned back to the exit, pushing pass his men who slowly put their gun down, letting them walk off without a scratched on their skin.

‘Bastard’, Tay whispered under his breath, kicking on one of the boxes, seeing his unopened packages of whisky and gin, a small business that Gunsmile also had aside from his famous race tracks, ‘We should just kill him and be done with it’

‘No’, Off warned his brother as soon as they reached the ground, breathing in the smoked air and walking over to their parked vehicle, ‘We need alliances. Not everyone can be loyal to us, but they can be loyal to him. Associations is key Tay. Remember that’

‘Don’t mentor me like a fucking kid’, Tay barked at his brother, Gunsmile’s words still affecting him despite his lack of expression, ‘I’m not Arm’

‘I never said you were’, Off replied nonchalantly, slamming the door shut once they got inside, turning on the engines and hearing it roar to life, making the whole vehicle vibrate, ‘And if you’re gonna let his words get to you that easily, then you’re clearly not an Adulkittiporn’

* * *

‘Att, I’m warning you, don’t go tonight’, Alice warned him when he explained to her Off’s orders which made her freeze as she took off her coat and headed into the living room, ‘You should’ve never broke his rules in the first place. Chimon stays here’

‘You have to let the kid explore, he’s not a prisoner and he shouldn’t feel like it’, Atthaphan argued to her, but his words didn’t seem to matter to Alice who combed her hair back worriedly.

‘But he is a prisoner’, Alice whispered to the young man, the pair standing in the middle of the kitchen with the door shut, far away from Chimon’s room, ‘He’s Buggy Boy’s son and he has no place here, even if he’s under the Slasher’s supervision. You may not know it, but their family grudges run deeper than you think’

‘Off gave me permission’, Atthaphan explained to her, ‘And didn’t you say he never breaks his promise’

‘You’d be a fool to believe that’, Alice scoffed, ‘He’s a pirate. He plays by no rules, so if he tells you you’re allowed, you better think as to why he’s allowing it. His heart is no gold’

‘Even if he has a reason to allow me, that doesn’t mean that reason would put us into any danger’, Atthaphan replied, grabbing his bag and making his way to the front door, ‘You said so yourself, Chimon is his biggest leverage and he isn’t going to harm him, intentional or not’

‘That doesn’t mean you should meet him!’, Alice shouted for him, but the young man was already heading out of the door, opening it before turning to look at her.

‘I can take care of myself, You don’t need to worry’, and before Alice could attempt to persuade him one last time, the front door slammed shut, leaving her wondering if it had been a good idea to hire the man in the first place.

* * *

Atthaphan hadn’t met Inspector Craine for the rest of the day in the fear that Slashers may be watching him, so his superior didn’t know that he was planning to meet Off despite his multiple warnings not to do so. The only reason why he wanted to was to prove to Inspector Craine that, no matter how beastly the Slashers were – they were not part of the ongoing murders scattering around London and he needed to be placed somewhere else.

Off Jumpol, the grizzly and disgusting man that he is, still held himself in a morality that was unconventional but still made sense. Kill only those who betrayed or attacked him.

Atthaphan had read every morning paper since his arrival to Camden and despite the new murders, none of them linked with the Slashers, let alone their leader who stayed clear from the spotlight and hid himself in shadows where he knew he belonged. He would never blow his cover just for murderous pleasure.

So, the undercover detective found himself back inside Tay’s bar in the middle of the night, passing through the bustling life of dancing men and women, singers on stage lighting the underground on fire with their sweet voice and delectable music.

‘Well, well, well, if it isn’t the sweet tutor’, Tay shouted as soon as he saw the young man walk back into his bar, ‘I’m sorry but the bar is busy. Looks like you’re going to need to find someplace else to stay. But I heard Alice already paid you in advance, so I’m sure you can find a place to rent for the week’

‘Yes’, Atthaphan nodded at the man, faking a smile as he leaned on the counter, ‘Thanks for letting me stay’

‘I can only apologise for my brother’s rude behaviour’, Tay shook his head, wiping the counter as he walked over to where he was standing, ‘I was sure he would let you stay the night. You’re his type and all’

‘Clearly I’m not’, Atthaphan replied, trying not to gag at the idea of sleeping with Off, ‘But it’s okay. I wasn’t offended’

‘Maybe if you treat him well tonight, he might change his mind and let you stay at his place’, Tay winked, pointing his chin to the direction where his brother was waiting and that was when Atthaphan finally noticed him.

The man sat at one of the booths, avoiding the crowded dance floor as he sat by himself with a drink in his hand, leaning back on the chair and observing the room with his slit eyes like a snake.

Atthaphan had handled worse men, so he was the least intimidated, walking pass the sea of drunkards as he made his way to the booth where he rested, standing in front of him.

‘Are you gonna sit down or what?’, Off raised a brow, his thick London accent oozing out of him like liquor in one of Tay’s private stash, something cold yet familiar coursing through Atthaphan’s veins.

‘Depends on what you want me to do tonight’, he replied, his hands in fists as he continued to stare at Off, trying not to break the contact to show the latter that he was more than the orphan boy he presented himself in.

‘Well, fine by me’, Off was the one who broke the gaze, looking down at the ground where a bag was placed beside his feet. He kicked it and watched it slide to where Atthaphan was standing, ‘You’ll find a few things that can protect you inside that bag. Learn how to use it’

‘I’ve never held a gun before’, he lied, fisting his hands again as he listened to the way Off laughed at him.

‘You’ve seen the Colt before, haven’t you?’, Off began to explain, pointing his chin to the bag and beckoning for him to open it, ‘It’s a single-action, semi-automatic handgun and holds .45 ACP cartridges’, he explained whilst Atthaphan bent down to unbutton the bag, looking at the multiple guns stashed on top of each other, his eyes wide not because he’d never seen a gun before, but he wondered how Off managed to get this many weapons for one person? Just how much connections did he have?

He picked up the Colt, heavy in his hands, but he’s dealt with one before, so it didn’t feel out of place.

‘I’ve given you three, you can hide the others in your apartment or a secret place that you can get to quickly’

‘You still need to tell me how to use it’

‘Teach yourself’, Off finished his drink, leaving the empty cup on the table and grabbing his cane as he stood up, ‘If you don’t know, walk down to the end of the road and just start shooting. Maybe if you’re lucky, you might hit a stray dog. That could be your dinner for tonight’

‘What?’, Atthaphan furrowed his brow in disgust, picking up the heavy bag and swinging it on his back. Off ignored him, calling it a night and retiring, pushing pass him and heading to the front door, ‘Wait… Wait!’

Despite the night shading the skies, the streets of London were still loud, men still at work in factories, working over time to pay off their dues, metal clanking against metal, saw dust fluttering into the air as they made their way out of the bar and into the streets.

‘Can you at least tell me how it works?’

‘If you wanna survive in London, you gotta teach yourself’, Off brushed off the young man who continued to follow him, letting his cane leave behind a tapping noise which made even rats turn and run the other way. Atthaphan noticed how each home closed their windows, locking it tight when they heard Off’s distorted footsteps.

‘At least explain to me why you’re allowing Chimon to go outside under my supervision. Do you trust me already?’

‘Trust?’, Off repeated the word, turning to look back at him finally, ‘Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t even trust myself’

‘Then is it because one of your Slashers can’t be trusted? Maybe you think one of them may be part of the murders’

‘You have quite the imagination’, Off stopped walking, his shadow growing taller from his stance as the street lamp from above lit on him. He turned to glare at the orphan and squinted his eyes at him, his fingers tapping his cane as he tried to read the boy, ‘Why’re you so curious of me? Am I that appeasing to you?’

‘I just wanna know why you would trust me with Chimon and not your own men. Those murders are eerily similar to the shit you do’

‘And you think one of my men are part of it?’, Off had no idea where this boy came from, but he was more knowledgable about London and more specifically about him for someone who came from the country and it was making him feel suspicious.

‘You have a lot of madmen under your supervision. It wouldn’t be a shock’

‘Oh, but it would be’, Off smirked, reaching his hand out to place it beneath Atthaphan’s chin, gripping it tight and forcing the man to look straight at him, ‘Because those madmen are nuzzled and only I can control them and if one of them is the murderer, it meant I allowed them to do it which means you’re accusing me of the killings, isn’t that right?’

‘No. No, I didn’t mean to accuse you. I just-’

‘You better learn how to keep your mouth shut’, Off ended his sentence, gripping tighter on his face and leaning down till they were only inches apart, ‘And a country boy like you shouldn’t know this much about me. So, before I tickle my curiosity, you better get out of my sight and do as your told’

‘I know about you because this city won’t stop talking about you’, Atthaphan replied, tugging Off’s hands away from his face and stepping back, ‘You create your own presence so you shouldn’t be surprised that people have heard your name’

‘And do you know my name?’, Off asked. He’d never entertained someone for this long, not even his own brother, but the man wouldn’t back down no matter how intimidating he is and it made him wanna play back.

‘Off Jumpol Adulkittiporn. That’s your full name’

‘No, the name my dear old mother gave me was Jumpol. Off was given to me by the very city you decided to live in’, he corrected him, ‘And do you wanna know why they gave me that name? Huh?’

‘Because… Because…’, Atthaphan took a step back, but it was futile because Off decided to dance back, taking a step forward.

‘Because anyone who stands in my way gets their hands cut off’, he leaned in and whispered to the young man before biting his ear, making Atthaphan squirm from the sudden pain, pushing back and making Off laugh.

‘Those murders aren’t my doing, if you’re curious’, Off decided to reply to the boy’s accusations, ‘But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on in my own city’, he whispered the last bit as he carried on walking, turning his back on Atthaphan who watched him leave, carrying the bags of weapon as Off’s figure turned smaller and by the end of the street, disappeared like a ghost in the night.

Atthaphan caught himself breathing heavily, shaking a little as he turned back to walk to the bar. He’s handle worse than Off, monsters that he chained himself, yet there was something about Off that made him nervous.

He still didn’t believe in Inspector Craine’s accusations, but with Off’s accounts, maybe staying in Camden may keep the investigation moving forward. If Off’s words were true and he knew every dealings in the city, he might know the murderer.

Atthaphan had no other choice but to hold in his breath and suck it up, because he knew this won’t be the last time he’ll be meeting Off Jumpol.


	4. 04

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **warning: blood, guns and handjobs**

Arm had always been in love with Alice. It’s a secret no one tried to hide since they were little, so it was no wonder that the only person who could slap him in the face without losing an arm was none other than his older brother’s best friend and the love of his life Alice. But if only his feelings were reciprocated, maybe he wouldn’t turn out like how he was now.

‘Arm, for the love of God’, Tay shouted as soon as one of his men informed him of a recent debacle downtown near Alice’s café, ‘Stop pestering the poor woman!’

He stomped his way to one of the booths where his dear younger brother was sleeping, his hat resting on his face, hiding him from the rest of the world.

Unlike his brothers, Arm never served in the war, purely because he failed his physical examination, calling him unfit to join the war. But it was also because he didn’t wanna leave Alice alone. With his brother’s joining the war, it left their organisation under her care and despite her daring nature and tough personality, he still couldn’t bare to leave her behind in the city, so he took it as God’s permission to stay behind.

He became her bulldog, the raging madman who would spite anyone who dared disagree with her decisions. The whole city knew of them as the couple who kept the Cuff Slashers alive and despite Arm’s erratic behaviour, people respected that about them.

But with the war over and Alice’s wishes to detach herself with anything related to them, Arm had no other motivations but to follow her, keeping an eye on her movements whilst he sat in the same bar waiting for her to return to them.

‘You broke a man’s arm? He works in the banks and you broke his arm?’, Tay shouted, kicking the chair and waking his brother up, ‘If they find out that incident was linked to a Slasher, Off’s gonna kill you!’

‘He won’t!’, Arm whined, sitting up on the booth and scratching his hair, unfazed by his brother’s shouting, ‘That man looked at Alice the wrong way’

‘She can protect herself, you idiot’, Tay shouted back, kicking at his brother’s leg, ‘You can’t keep every man who showed an interest in her away. She’s gonna kill you’

‘He showed no pure interest in her’, Arm explained himself as he stood up from the booth, pushing pass his brother and walking to the counter to pour himself a drink, ‘I’ve been told that he had slimy hands and I didn’t want Alice to be near someone like him’

‘Look even if he’s a scum, that doesn’t mean you should make a scene. She can handle herself if he ever approached her’

‘Am I in the wrong?’, Arm scoffed as he poured himself a glass of whisky, ‘If he knew how to keep his hands to himself, maybe I wouldn’t need to break it’

‘Arm!’

‘Here we go’, Tay closed his eyes and sighed as soon as they heard his brother’s howls, ‘We’re both dead meat thanks to you’

‘Arm!’

‘What?!’, he shouted back to Off as soon as he heard the door slam open, his brother walking down the stairs towards the bar with slit eyes. He threw his cane at his brother, letting it hit Arm’s back as he squirmed his pain, shouting curses at him.

‘Alice is doing my head in again because you can’t seem to leave her the fuck alone!’, off had never raised his voice to anyone but his brothers, even when they were young, and Arm seemed to always be the target of his abuse recently, especially since he’s been causing more trouble every fucking weeks.

‘She should be grateful I saved her from that prick!’

‘Alice can fight her own battles!’, Off shouted, ‘And we don’t need a Slasher abusing a banker, not when we’re hired to protect them!’

‘Like I care what happens to those capitalist scums!’, Arm shouted back, his voice raised and just as angry as Off’s, ‘They’ve stolen from us workers, so it’s only fair that I bust some of their head in!’

‘Us workers?’, Off scoffed, ‘Don’t tell me you’re getting sucked into that communist bullshit’

‘They’ve got a point! We’re busting our ass keeping this city alive whilst all them rich scums sip their wine in their country houses and mansion. When the revolution happens we-’

‘A revolution isn’t going to happen’, Off stopped him before Arm could drip the nonsense he’d been hearing in the streets, ‘And even if it does, we will have no part on it. We do our job and we move on’, he picked up his cane and kicked his brother in the process before he turned to exit the bar.

‘I ran this business when you were away!’, Arm shouted after him, throwing his glass of whisky and letting the glass shatter on the ground beside Off, forcing him to stop, ‘I would never let this business bow down to the scums you bow down to now! That’s why Alice left!’

‘Alice left to make an honest name for herself’, Off turned around and looked back on his brother, stepping over the shattered glass and glaring at him as he lifted his cane, pushing the end on Arm’s throat, ‘And I do not bow down to no one. They bow down to me’, he corrected his brother, letting the whiskey soak through the bottom of his shoes as he felt a stinging in his ankle, ‘They know they’re dead without me, so they keep their end of the bargain. Maybe this business would’ve grown whilst I was away if you had the brains to think outside that small world of yours, huh?’

‘You drove Alice away from me because you knew you couldn’t have her’, Arm coughed out, pushing the cane away from his throat, feeling no threat or fear from his brother, ‘You drove everyone away ever since you came back from France’

‘Alice doesn’t love you’, Off told his brother, a truth which cut to his core.

‘Off… Come on now’, even Tay knew how harsh his words were, walking over to rest his hand on his shoulder, ‘Enough. He’s learnt his lesson. He won’t do it again’

‘He better not’, Off sighed, wiping the end of his cane before setting it down, ‘Otherwise Alice will end up hating him’, he looked at his younger brother one last time, seeing him snarl at him before he turned back and left the bar, slamming the door shut and leaving his brothers to ponder in silence.

‘Why’s he so fucking mad’, Arm hissed, climbing over the counter to grab himself another drink.

‘That banker was under the list that was under our protection’, Tay whispered, closing his eyes and massaging his temples, ‘Off just lost a big investor because of you’

‘He can get another one’, Arm growled, opening the bottle of gin with his teeth and spitting out the cap before downing the bottle in one go, ‘Maybe get one that doesn’t treat women like trash’

Tay didn’t wanna argue with his brother anymore. There had been enough shouting this early in the morning, so instead he walked to the staff room, grabbing himself a mop to clean up the mess Arm left behind, wondering how Off was gonna pull through with his next big project without his biggest investors.

* * *

‘You need to stay away from me’

‘I’m not the one who did it’, Off turned back to Alice as he sat down in her living room, paying hearing the news from the Metropolitan Police about a recent break in and assault, knowing that it must’ve been his brother again.

‘He’s doing my head in! He’s the reason I never wanna return to work for you ever again!’

‘Funny’, Off huffed as he whined a little, ‘He thinks it’s because of me that you left’

‘Arm was impulsive. He would go rogue and sometimes it felt like I was handling an empire and raising a child at the same time. I couldn’t do it anymore’, Alice complained as she sat on the chair opposite her best friend, her arms crossed, ‘I mean, he’s a good kid and he means well but it’s like… It’s like no one raised him’

‘No one did’, Off replied, ‘Might I remind you, we all met in the orphanage and unlike me and Tay who atleast remembered our mother, Arm was still too young when she died. He was raised by no one’

‘He was raised by his brothers’, Alice corrected him as she turned to glare at him, ‘And you did a poor fucking job at it’

‘You think we knew how to raise a fucking child?’, Off asked, his voice raised when the accusation was once again pointed to him, ‘Why is it, when something goes wrong, all blame goes to me?’

‘Because you’re the one in control dammit’, Alice shouted back, ‘You need to know how to handle your own family before you handle the rest of the city!’

‘I-’

‘Hey, is Chimon up already?’

The door opened and a different voice forced them to stop their argument, Alice looking down on her watch and standing up.

‘Not yet’, Alice responded, walking out of the living room to greet Att, ‘But I’ll make you a cup of coffee. I’m heading out to work soon’

‘Oh, thanks’, Att replied, opening the living room door and was about to set his bags down when he saw someone else present in the apartment, freezing when he made eye contact with Off, ‘What’re you doing here?’

‘Visiting my most valued person’, Off stated, glancing over the young man who slowly made his way to the centre of the living room, placing his bag down on the table.

‘And are you leaving?’

‘You were clinging onto me the other night and now you want me gone? Make up your mind’, Off commented as he stood up, only to wince in pain when the glass pierced deeper into his skin.

‘Woah, you’re bleeding’, Gun looked down when he noticed Off’s expression, seeing his socks bloodied red already, ‘Are you okay?’

‘Just a little spat with my darling brother’, Off waved away his concern, sitting back down and looking down at his ankle. Arm’s throw went farther than they both expected, one of the shards stabbing his skin just above is ankle. Off didn’t feel it at first and when he did, he shrugged it off and decided to take care of it once he arrives in his office, but he didn’t anticipate the excessive bleeding.

‘You need to take the glass out now before it gets infected’, Att informed him, walking over to the cupboard where Alice kept her alcohol, picking a bottle of whisky as he knelt down in front of Off.

‘What are you doing?’, he tried to push the boy away, but he winced when he felt the sting on the alcohol hitting his wound, gripping on Att’s shoulders instead, keeping him close as he bit his lip, trying to stay quiet.

‘You shouldn’t leave the wound unattended for too long’, Att kept on telling him off as he took off his shoes, sliding the blood stained socks off his feet and seeing the glass sticking out of his ankle.

‘Don’t take it out’, Off ordered him, but Att didn’t listen, using his handkerchief as gloves, holding onto the tip and taking out the shard, ‘Fuck’, Off couldn’t help but squirm a little when he looked down to see more blood dripping down his foot, landing on Alice’s carpet.

‘Don’t worry, the wound isn’t that deep. It’ll heal without stitches’, Gun explained, using the same handkerchief and wrapped it around his feet, tightening the knot and bandaging the wound.

‘What the hell is going on?’, Alice walked back into the living room with a cup of coffee, looking down at her bloodied carpet and Off’s foot which was now bandaged, ‘What did you do?’

‘He had a stab wound’, Att explained, standing up and wiping his hands on his trousers, leaving red stains on the fabric.

‘You came to my house with a stab wound?’, Alice turned to glare at his best friend, ‘And you didn’t tell me?’

‘It’s no big deal’, Off shrugged, biting his lip again as he tried to settle his foot down, but the sting from the alcohol made it hard.

‘Look what you did to my carpet’, Alice sighed, placing the cup on the table as she glared at him, ‘Next time sort yourself out before you visit me’

‘Your precious Arm did this to me’, he explained, ‘He was mad I would ever make a deal with a scum like Mr Smith’

‘He’s got a point with that one at least. He’s a scum’, Alice whispered, despite being pissed at Arm, she couldn’t condone his reasons behind his actions.

‘if you know the lengths he’d go to just to keep you safe, then why do you keep rejecting him?’, Off suddenly asked. He barely makes himself known in other people’s business and even though him and Arm don’t often see eye to eye, he can at least understand his brother’s frustration.

‘I don’t want to be associated with the Slashers anymore, you know that’, Alice explained herself, ‘And if I marry him, I’ll always be a Slasher’

‘So, it’s not that you hate him’, Off reiterated her explanation, ‘You just don’t want to get your hands dirty again?’

‘Your brother may love me, but he’ll always choose you’

‘I beg to differ’, Off finally stood up, not caring that someone else was in the room present to listen to their conversation, ‘If I fire him and he gets himself a decent job, will you rethink?’

‘What?’

‘If Arm gives up his position and I give him a job at one of the factories, will you reconsider his proposal?’, he asked again, taking out his pocket watch and checking the time.

‘You wouldn’t do that’

‘Isn’t it enough that I’m considering it?’, Off asked his best friend who he grew up with, being the first person who approached him when he was sent to the orphanage with his two baby brothers. Alice has always done what he asked of her, and maybe it was about time he repaid her for her sacrifices, even if it was in the form of his brother.

‘I’ll think about it’, she replied swiftly, picking up her bag and heading to the door, ‘Only if he stops getting me fired from my jobs!’, she shouted before slamming the door shut behind her, leaving Off alone with Chimon’s teacher who kept quiet during the whole ordeal.

‘Your brother… Did that to you because…’, Att pointed down at his bandaged ankle, not wanting to ask questions about the previous conversation. He may be a detective, but he knew when to keep things private.

‘My brother is the most fragile out of all of us’, Off turned to face Att, ‘He’s driven by love which means he’s impulsive at best. To cure him, I need Alice to accept his hand in marriage so she can control him, because I’m getting sick and tired of cleaning up after his mess’

‘Impulse?’, Att whispered the word to himself, his mind wiring in different conclusion.

‘If you’re gonna go out with Chimon today, make sure to avoid Shoreditch’, Off warned him as he leaned his weight on the cane, ‘There’s a brawl happening in the afternoon and I don’t want the kid to be in the middle of it’

‘Okay’, Att nodded at him, letting him go as he walked back to the table, taking out a small notebook he kept hidden in the midst of all of Chimon’s textbooks, opening it up and reading his own messy writing.

**_The Hand Stealer_ **

**_~~Off Jumpol~~ _ **

**_~~Tay Tawan~~ _ **

**Arm Weerayut?**

**_Impulsive, erratic, violent streaks, tendency to attack bystanders_ **

****

Atthaphan may not think Off was the murderer, but he was starting to think the leader knew who it was, and maybe he was protecting him? Like he said, Off was getting sick and tired of cleaning up after his brother’s mess.

‘Att? Are you here already?’

Atthaphan heard Chimon’s croaky voice coming from his room as he opened the door, rubbing his eyes together and walking inside still in his pyjamas.

‘Go eat breakfast first’, he ordered the boy as he closed his notebook and hid it inside the pocket in his bag, ‘We’ll get started once you finish eating’

* * *

‘My dear brother, who the hell wrapped that around your ankle?’, Tay chuckled as soon as Off arrived in his office, sighing as he sat in his office chair, his hand aching from carrying his own weight on his cane, since both his feet was struggling to walk.

‘That Att boy’, Off replied, which he probably shouldn’t have since his brother didn’t take another second to bombard him with numerous teasing questions.

‘You let him touch you?’, Tay smiled, ‘I thought he wasn’t your type’

‘I was bleeding all over Alice’s carpet, you bastard’, Off scrunched a piece of paper, throwing it at his brother, ‘I had to let him tend it’

‘Tend it?’, Tay winked, leaning on his counter and licking his lips, ‘What else did he tend?’

‘You’re sick in the head’, Off retorted, rolling his eyes and opening his desk to go through the files of other investors he might still have. Since losing Mr Smith, he’d also lost some of his close friends who refused to work with him again, but that didn’t mean he lost an asset. If he’d made a recent enemy, he’d reached out to their enemies and create new friends. It was easy to say the least.

‘Look, I’m not one to pry on my dear brother’s business, but you haven’t fucked anyone in a long time now’, Tay bluntly pointed out. Off knew his brother was trying to distract him from punishing Arm, but he also knew his brother had a sick mind in teasing him with his private life.

‘Go fuck someone if you’re so busy thinking about sex. Don’t drag me into it’

‘I’ve had plenty of men and women keeping my bed warm’, Tay joked, winking at him, ‘I’m fine. It’s you that I’m worried about. You should try it brother, trust me, it’ll calm your mind better than opium’

‘I need to meet with Viscount Lyttelton’, Off closed his files, massaging his hands before standing up, using his cane to hoist himself up, ‘I heard he had a little spat with Mr Smith and he might be willing to invest in my business if he knew Mr Smith pulled out’

‘You need some rest. One of your leg is already bad and the other had just been stabbed’, Tay stopped his fooling when he saw his brother struggle to walk, ‘Why don’t I do it? You know I blend in better with the upper class anyway’, he grabbed the file from his brother’s grasp, looking down at the top name on the list,

‘He’s going to be attending a ball in Chelsea this evening’, Off informed Tay as he sat back down. He didn’t shrug off his brother’s help, not when he new he couldn’t go there himself, plus his brother had a point. Tay was more pretentious than him and he could easily bullshit his way to the Viscount without the need to make a mess, ‘He’ll be coming with his father from Hereford’

‘How long is he staying?’

‘A couple of months. Three tops’, Off explained, ‘So take your time with him, you’ll have three months to try and persuade him to invest in us’

‘Okay’, Tay smiled when he looked down at the name, ‘I’m sure I can handle him’

**Viscount Thitipoom Lyettelton of Hereford.**

‘He’ll be under me in no time’

* * *

‘Let’s go out’

‘We barely made it out alive from Off’s wrath and now you wanna go out again?’, Att laughed at the teenager who jumped off the chair after he finished rewriting the entire alphabet in his notebook, ‘Plus, you still can’t get the G right. You need to keep practicing and memorising how each letter sounds before we move onto sentences’

‘It’s almost the evening!’, Chimon whined, grabbing Att’s wrist and holding his hand, ‘Off said I’m not allowed once sunlight’s gone and we only have a couple of hours left! I promise to study before I go to bed!’

‘Chimon, stop shouting’, Att warned him, looking at the clock on the mantelpiece and worrying if it was too late to go out. On his way to work, he saw a group of men following him around and they didn’t look like Slashers, in fact, they looked tackier, their clothes ripped and sewn over with other materials to keep it from falling apart. They had dirt all over their face and nails as black as the night. If his assumptions were right, Buggy Boy’s men probably got the message that he was tutoring his son.

But he couldn’t guarantee that Off was gonna come back to Alice’s apartment today and he needed to get more information so he could pass it onto Inspector Craine. He needed permission to arrest and question Arm and if he doesn’t do it now, he might be reading another murder in the newspaper tomorrow morning.

‘Fine’, Atthaphan gave in, ‘But we need to be back in an hour, okay?’

* * *

Anything that happens in East London was never missed by Off Jumpol and he heard from one of his men that Chimon and his tutor was roaming around the streets of London again, but this time, he didn’t give a fuck. Instead, he was seated on the rooftop of a cocktail bar with a cigar in his hands overlooking the view of the city, seeing the skyscrapers which was hugged by the factory smokes, along with the smokes from cars. No one dared sit outside due to the immense smell of smoke and excrement from passing carriages, but it didn’t faze Off. He’d stayed in war hospitals covered in his own shit once whilst his leg was festering with maggots, so this was a breathe of fresh air for him.

He could see Chimon and his tutor from this view, watching their small heads walk pass the sea of people, once again finding themselves in the middle of the market. He blew out the some which burnt his lungs, letting the grey swim around him as he kept his gaze on the man.

Att was an interest to him, someone who was stupid yet brave enough to keep talking to him after he had finished his conversation. Only his brothers and Alice had the courage to do that to him and he wondered what the boy had that gave him the courage to act that way to him.

He should’ve asked his brother where he found the boy, bu at this point, there was no use. He had entrusted the orphan to teach and guide Chimon to stay loyal to them and he could only hope he does his job.

He finished his cigar, throwing the butt on the ashtray as he grabbed himself another inside his jacket, losing track of the two men as he indulged in his drink and counted today as a day off. Maybe his brother was right. Maybe he deserved a break.

‘Att! Att! Help! Help me!’

* * *

Chimon didn’t know he had it in him to shout this loud, but when felt something strong grab his arm, pulling him away from his tutor, he let out a scream he never knew he was capable of making, catching the attention of everyone around them.

‘Chimon, let’s go! We’re here to save you!’, the voice behind him was confused at his reaction and when he turned around, he recognised one of his father’s men.

‘Michael?’, he gasped, seeing the tall man and relaxing for a minute. But that was before he realised where Michael would drag him off too, back to his home in Peckham in the hands of his father. And he didn’t know whether he wanted that.

‘Come on, let’s go’, the man dragged him despite his protect, trying to tug his shirt off the man’s grip, ‘Chimon stop it! We’re saving you!’

‘Drop him!’, in a split of a moment, the sea of people parted, only for the pair to see a man standing at the end of the market with gun pointed in their direction.

‘Att!’, Chimon shouted when he recognised his tutor, sighing in relief when Att held the gun in one hand, walking over to them.

‘Don’t make me shoot’, he shouted back at the man who had his arms wrapped around Chimon’s neck, holding onto him, ‘By orders of the Cuff Slashers, if you take him away I’ll kill you’

With the sound of the name, everyone departed, running as far away in fear of the order. The man had nowhere to go and with no one to help him since he was under the property of Off and he had just been caught stealing.

‘Chimon belongs to us!’

‘He belongs to no one’, Att shouted back, ‘Now let him go and I won’t have to shoot you’

‘Do you even know how to shoot’, Michael laughed at him, picking up his knife and pressing it on Chimon’s neck, making the boy whine at the pressure, ‘Shoot me and you’ll kill him too’

‘Idiot’, Att scoffed, smirking as he pointed the gun lower down, pulling the trigger and causing a shriek of bystanders to shout when they heard the gun shot, a strain of smoke leaving the gun.

‘Fuck!’, Michael immediately let go of Chimon, holding onto his leg which was now bleeding from the bullet wound, his bone splitting in two as the bullet escape through his skin, landing on the cement ground.

‘Chimon, come here now!’, Att shouted, tucking the gun back by his belt and beckoning the young boy to run to him and Chimon didn’t need a second order, running away from his father’s men, clutching on Att’s sleeves and pressing his head on his back, closing his eyes and counting to ten, ‘Sorry you had to see that’, he whispered to the teenager, stroking his hair and taking a step back when Michael attempte to crawl to them.

‘You know, for a man who’s never held a gun before, you were pretty good’, out of the smokes, Off came out, the sound of his cane tapping the cobblestone pavement as he made his way to the tutor, ‘Almost as if you’ve pulled the trigger before’, he whispered in Att’s ears, sending shivers down his spine as he took a step back, hugging Chimon more for his own safety as he tried not to look obvious. He didn’t know Off saw the whole thing. He was supposed to pretend to be clueless about guns and he wondered if he’d just blown his cover.

‘It’s Michael, isn’t it?’, Off decided to turn his attention away from Att, walking to the bleeding ma instead who continued to scream in pain, ‘Didn’t I want Buggy Boy not to send his men here?’, he tapped his cane on the man’s leg, pushing out more blood until the man was squirming and shrieking in pain, ‘I told him I will kill anyone who he tries to smuggle in here’

‘Chimon isn’t yours’, Michael spat out, his eyes glaring slits at the man, ‘You can’t keep him forever’

‘I won’t’, Off whispered as he knelt down to face Michael, ‘I’ll send him back once he turns eighteen. That was the deal’

‘You’re not gonna turn Chimon into your stupid lapdog. Blood is thicker than water’

‘Please go back to school’, Off sighed, taking out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping the end of his cane, clearing the blood off before throwing the stained cloth on the man, ‘You know men would spill blood for a drop of water’, he whispered before standing up, clicking his hands and summoning his men forward.

A group of Slashers emerged from the crowd, men with bats and knives at the ready, crowding around Off.

‘Take him to the border and send him back to his boss’, Off commanded his men, ‘I don’t want death on my own streets. Let him die in his boss’ own property’

‘Yes sir’, they bowed their head to him, each of them carrying the man and throwing him at the back of a carriage where a driver was already waiting, pulling the reins of his horse, ordering the animal to start moving.

Chimon kept his eyes closed during the whole ordeal, hugging onto Att who stared at Off the whole time,

Once Off finished his business with Buggy Boy’s men, he turned back to the curiosity that’s been killing him, all in the form of a short man clutching his most valuable leverage.

‘You both, come with me’, he pointed at the two boys, beckoning them to follow him as he walked towards his office situated at the end of the road.

* * *

The walk to the office was silent and ominous, only the tapping of Off’s cane being the only noise to stop the tension from rising. By the time they reached his office, Chimon had opened his eyes, stepping inside the house Off has rented as his betting place and management office.

‘A fourteen year old boy shouldn’t be hearing gun shots’, Off broke the silence when he ordered his secretary to make Chimon a cup of tea, ordering her to keep him company in one of the rooms as he dragged Att into his office, locking the door shut as he leaned on it, feeling his ankles ache, ‘You shouldn’t have pulled the trigger’

‘You told me to protect him’, Att defended himself, ‘Why give me a gun when you’re gonna tell me off for using it’

‘In front of Chimon’, Off corrected him, ‘I’m only telling you off for shooting the man whilst Chimon was still around. What if you had shot him instead? Huh?’

‘But I didn’t’, Att reminded him, ‘Chimon is safe and unharmed’

‘Well, why don’t we talk about that, shall we?’, Off changed the topic as he limbed towards his office chair, settling down with a sigh of relief as he began to massage his ankles, ‘How could you not have shot Chimon?’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘You stood at least twelve feet away from the two of them. It seems highly unlikely that a man who’s never touched a gun could have such impeccable aim’, he noted, looking up and waiting for Att’s response. His leather gloves was stained with blood, both from his and Michael when he looked down to see that his bandage must’ve loosened, fresh blood dripping down into his shoes.

‘Beginner’s luck I guess’

‘You use that excuse when you play poker for the first time’, Off chuckled, retrying the handkerchief around his ankles again before sitting up, leaning his back on his chair and keeping his focus on the tutor, ‘Not when you’re aiming a gun at someone’

‘Your brother taught me how to aim last night’, Att added on.

‘You managed to master it the very next day?’, Off responded with another question, raising his brow and observing Att’s shifting eyes and nervous expression, ‘Can we cut to the chase and explain to me why you pretended never to have held a gun before’

‘Because I haven’t’, Att decided to stay his ground, looking around the office, keeping his focus on anything. But the man in front of him, ‘I told you, beginner’s luck’

‘Hhmm’, Off responded, his expression not buying the excuse and it only made him more curious about the boy standing in front of him, ‘I have connections in Derbyshire. If you don’t wanna answer my question, then I’ll find someone who can. Where did you say your orphanage was again?’

‘I left that place when I was seventeen years old’, Att said, walking close until he was practically leaning on the desk, ‘It’s been a decade, they probably forgot about me’

‘I don’t need people to remember you’, Off replied, ‘I just need them to get your files’

‘I’ll give them to you know’, Att answered, ‘I stole my files when I ran away, much like you did’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Tay told me’, Att explained when Off raised his brow at the sudden change of topic, ‘Before you left the orphanage, the three of you sneaked in and stole your records so no one could ever find out about you without your permission’

‘Tay does have a big mouth, doesn’t he?’, he sighed, feeling betrayed that his brother would just tell that story to any random stranger he meets, ‘But that still doesn’t tell me why you know how to shoot. You better stop lying to me now before I gain anymore suspicions over you’

‘I told you, it was a lucky shot’, Att wasn’t going to let his reason go, not because he thought it was a good excuse, but it was the only one he could think of now and he also slowly realised that he was inside Off’s office and he didn’t think he was gonna get another chance inside, so he needed to find a way to stay a little longer just to see if there was anything viable he could find for his investigations.

_‘You’re my brother’s type’_

Atthaphan suddenly remembered what Tay told him in the bar the other night and he felt a lightbulb turn on inside his mind as he stared at he man in front of him.

‘What were you doing in the market anyway?’, he asked the man, leaning his hand on the desk and staring at him, ‘I thought you were busy with work’

‘I was, until my brother stabbed me on the foot, so I had no choice but to take a day off’, Off explained, sitting back and looking down at his feet, which had stopped bleeding but in return, his bandages were soaked.

‘Yet you didn’t return to your apartment to rest?’

‘How can I when you’re dragging my most valuable leverage around the city? If I wasn’t there, who knew who else would try to get to Chimon’

‘I had it under control’

‘Oh, did you?’, Off smirked at the tutor who dared walk around his desk, now facing right in front of him, ‘You wouldn’t have needed to pull the trigger if you had kept Chimon close to you in the first place’

‘Can’t you just tell me I did a good job for at least keeping him alive?’, Att rolled his eyes, annoyed that he had to entertain a someone so uptight and stubborn.

‘Why do you need my praise? You’re employed by Alice, not me’

‘No one is allowed to make decisions without your approval. I’ve been made aware of that on the first day’, Att added on, making him chuckle when the boy continued to speak back to him.

‘I think I’ve entertained you long enough’, Off announced, raising his close and clicking his fingers, ‘You can leave my office and take Chimon back to Alice. Sun’s going down soon and he needs to be home’

‘We’ve got one more hour till sunset’, Att corrected him, which confused him since he didn’t ask, but instead of asking, he just watched as the young man walked his way over, sitting on his lap without being invited.

‘And where is this coming from?’, he whispered to Att who kept silent, his hand resting on his chest, ‘Are you secretly a whore, or what?’

‘No, I’m not’, Att glared at him, sliding his hand down to his arm and digging his nails in, ‘I’m just intrigued by you’

‘So is everyone’, Off replied, ‘But that doesn’t give you the privilege to touch me’

‘You wouldn’t have allowed me to if you didn’t want to, right?’, Att replied with a knowing smirk.

_Interesting._

Off decided to play along, leaning his cane on his desk as he rested his hands on Att’s back. There was only one reason why the young man would want to do this and it wasn’t because he was attracted to him. No, he needed something in the office and he wanted to know what. For all he knew, he could be a secret spy hired by Buggy Boy – that would explain his secret talent in shooting and why he suddenly wanted to be close to Chimon. He could sniff a traitor from a mile away.

‘May I ask why the sudden shift in desire?’, Off whispered when he felt Att lean in, placing a soft kiss on his neck, ‘Or have you always desired me?’

‘Just cause’, Att shrugged, grinding his body down on Off’s, letting his hands roam the man’s body.

Off Jumpol leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling in amusement as he allowed the tutor to run kisses down his neck, pressing harder and sucking on his skin until it left bruises. He didn’t do anything to stop it, just resting his hand on Att’s back, guiding him in a rhythmic motion when their bodies collided together.

He couldn’t see Att’s eyes which was staring down on the ground, looking back every few seconds to stare at his desk, counting all the drawers and looking at the files left opened on his desk. Every so often, he’d spot Off closing his eyes which gave him a couple of seconds to turn his back and look at the files before turning back to grind his body against Off’s, feeling the latter’s hardening cock press against his stomach.

So, even the demon has his urges, huh?

Att didn’t think it would be this easy to get to him, but he should’ve guessed that any man would have their blind spot.

They never kissed, no, Atthaphan wouldn’t give him the privilege to touch his lips, but now that they’ve reached this point, he didn’t have any other choice but to continue, unbuttoning Off’s shirt and trailing his lips further down until he felt the latter’s hand gripping tightly on his waist, massaging it softly.

_He’s so weak._

Atthaphan thought, smirking to himself as he took a moment to spit on his hand, lathering his palm wet as he unbuttoned the man’s trousers, sliding his hands inside.

 _‘Ah’,_ Off moaned when he felt something cold and wet wrap around’s his cock. He evens his breath, staring straight at Att before closing his eyes and leaning his head back, arching his back as he joined Att’s rhythmic motions, grinding to the delectably slow movements of Att’s jerks, feeling his rough hand around the tip of his cock, his thumb teasingly pressing until he emerged in another trail of moans.

 _‘What a weak man’,_ Att continued to think, smirking when he turned around, reading the name written on the top of his files.

_Mild Lapassalan; Elephant and Castle_

He turned back his gaze down on the man beneath him, quickly leaning down to suck his chest, fastening his pace as he jerked the man off. It didn’t take long until he felt Off’s hands grip tighter on his waist, probably leaving a make before he continued to quicken his pace, squeezing the tip till he felt Off sigh a deep breath on his skin, sending shivers down his spine. He bit his lip, trying to get rid of the surging feeling deep in his stomach as he let go of the boss’s cock, looking down to see cum all over his hand.

‘Sun’s going down’, he whispered, standing up from him, ‘I better take Chimon home’

Off watched as Att reached out for a piece of cloth that was resting on his desk, wiping the cum off his hands. The boy seemed unfazed by their actions and yet he couldn’t help but feel amused when his eyes sauntered down to see the man’s growing tent behind his trousers. He stayed seated in all his debacles glory, leaning his chin on his hand, his neck still wet from Att’s kisses.

‘Uh… Yeah… I’ll see you’, Att turned back one last time to look at Off who made no move, his shirt still unbuttoned and his dark trousers stained in white. He shut the door behind him, simply walking away as if nothing had happened.

‘What an interesting fella’, Off simply stated to himself as he cleaned himself up, smirking when he looked down on the file which rested on his desk, picking up the piece of paper and scrunching it into a ball, throwing it into the bin as he made his way to his comfort room, buttoning his shirt and closing the door behind him.

Att was a brave one, someone who definitely knew how to play dirty to get what he wanted. If only he knew Off had seen it coming the moment he entered the office.

‘You’re Mild’s problem now’, he smirked to himself as he washed off his trousers, looking at himself in the mirror and tilting his head back and stroking pass the multiple bruises that Att had left behind all over his pale skin, trailing all the way down to his chest. At least he also had some fun whilst sniffing out the rat.

* * *

Tay made his way to Chelsea by sundown in his well tailored suit, made specifically for tonight. He faked a smile, walking up the steps of Beaufort House, being joined by young and beautiful men and women in suits and evening gowns, dressed to the nine and raining in diamonds and pearls.

The building was well polished, the tiles shined to perfection, a perfectly hung chandelier right above him shining when light hits it, making their shadows dance with every movement.

The ballroom was filled with soft music, an orchestra placed at the front, creating an almost dreamlike presence as soon as he stepped inside.

He needed to be careful, he was in West London, a territory he didn’t belong in, so he laid low, keeping his head down and going by a fake name of Sir Louis Beaumont.

‘Hello pretty little thing’, a woman approached him, she was a little older, probably in her forties, but she still looked beautiful, her hair swept back and decorated in a lace of diamonds, her hands gloved in silk, decorated in ruby rings and her neck chained with more diamonds, ‘Are you here with someone?’

‘Unfortunately, I am’, Tay faked a whine as he rested his hand on her chin, stroking her cheeks as he stepped back from her, ‘I’m with Viscount Thitipoom’

‘Oh, the country boy?’, she giggled when she recognised the name, ‘You better take care of him. He’s never been in the city before and it looks like he might be eaten alive any minute’, she tiptoed to whisper to him, pointing at the centre of the ballroom where they both gaze at a tall man, wrapped with many men and women around his arms, clutching at him like a leech.

‘He he gets one girl pregnant tonight, that lucky lady will snag herself a title of Viscountess of Hereford, so make sure he keeps to himself’

‘Yes ma’am’, Tay replied, kneeling down to reach for her hand, kissing it softly before departing from her.

_‘People call him New’, Arm spoke to him before he took Off’s car to drive to the ball._

_‘Why?’_

_‘Because he’s pure, if you know what I mean’, Arm winked at his brother, patting his shoulder as he leaned in to whisper to his brother’s ears, ‘He’s new blood’_

_‘He won’t be once I get to him tonight’_

_‘I guess his nickname will be shortlived’, Arm teased, pinching his brother’s arm as he howled at him, agreeing to take care of the bar whilst he was away._

‘Viscount Thitipoom?’, he raised his voice, combing his hair back as he pushed pass the growing crowd, giving him his usual sweet smile, ‘May I ask you for a dance?’

‘And who are you?’

‘Just call me Louis’, he introduced himself, offering his hand for the young man to take. He looked around the many crowd that were around him and pondered whether to choose him over the others. BuT Tay was an Adulkittiporn and despite the crowd of beautiful people, he will always stand the brightest among them.

So, without much thought, the poor Viscount reached his hand to take Tay’s, walking away from the others and making his way to the middle of the ballroom.

The music swiftly changed into something sweet and soft, excusing Tay to rest his hand around Viscount Thitipoom’s waist, pulling him closer until their breaths touched, dancing slowly to the music as they moved pass everyone else in the room.

‘Do you know who’s playing?’, Viscount Thitipoom asked when they listened to the soft violins accompanied by the cellos.

‘Symphony Number 35, Haffner by Mozart’, Tay replied, spinning him around before resting his hand back on his waist effortlessly. Tay, a boy who grew in the slums, learnt how to dance due to the war. Stuck in no man’s land, he was forced to integrate himself with upper class lieutenants who never grew up outside of their perfect world of country and open fields. Many of them were scared, more so than him who had known just how ugly the world could get, so sometimes, to make them feel more at home, he would ask them to teach him how to dance, humming to the soft symphonies of Mozart or Beethoven whilst they hid away from their enemies in trenches. It was a bittersweet memory, something that he doesn’t go back to since many of his lieutenants never made it back alive.

That’s why he promised to carry on their passion for love and music, collecting pieces of art and rare wine and champagne. It was pretentious of him to think he could make himself one of them, but during the moment of death, he realised that they were all men with nothing more than a gun in their hand and their life on the line. SO why shouldn’t he enjoy the indulgence of a rich man? He was the one who made it out alive, not them anyway.

‘You’re good at this’, Viscount Thitipoom commented when the song reached it’s end, and naturally, Tay’s footsteps slowed with it.

‘And you’re a sight to be admired’, he whispered, placing a soft kiss on his cheeks, ‘If you’re bore of the night, come see me. I’ll make it worthwhile’, he was never tough nor intimidating with the boy, not like his brothers, because he knew gentleness was just as powerful. People are more intrigued in fragility and the silence of a mysterious man than one who shouts to the whole world of his life story.

He knew he had the Viscount’s attention the moment they separated, handing him back to his many more admirers seeking for a dance with him. But Tay noticed that his eyes kept on searching for him, stolen glances pass the busy crowds and bubbles of champagne as he kept his distance from Viscount Thitipoom, far enough to keep the boy wondering, but not too far for him to forget.

He smirked to himself, stealing a glass of champagne and letting the sweet liquor burn down his throat. He knew before the night ended, he’d have the Viscount wrapped around his finger, and maybe on something else too.

* * *

Atthaphan woke up before the sun rose, walking out of his rented room whilst the skies were still dark. It would take almost an hour to reach Elephant and Castle and he knew he needed to be there before his meeting with his superior. Whoever this Mild woman was, she must be of great importance to Off if she was on the top of his list. She could be someone who knows how to protect his brother from the police, or maybe the one who gets rid of the evidence.

He took the morning bus, closing his jacket from the morning chill in the air, coughing out the smokes from the factories as he stared out of the window. He saw beggars sleeping on the cobblestones with nothing more than newspaper to keep them warm, bin set on fire as crowds of people warm themselves as the day arose. He suddenly missed his apartment in Westminster, spacious and warm with his housemaid warming up the water for his bath every morning before he wakes up.

He paid no mind to his longing as he reached Elephant and Castle, walking out of the bus and towards a bridge which overlooked the river.

He didn’t know what Mild looked like, but the files wrote that she hung around by the river, so he could only conclude that their meet-ups were under the bridge and away from people’s stares.

He passed by the morning strollers, reaching the end of the bridge which led him to a narrow flight of stairs that led him below deck where the river met the cement ground. There was already signs of the morning sunlight edging it’s way in the sky.

The smell of fish and damp cement filled his nostrils as soon as he reached the ground, sliding his hands in his pockets as he walked under the bridge. It was cold and he was alone.

But not for long.

‘Att, I didn’t think you’d be this early’, he heard a soft voice behind him, making him turn, but before he could see who called out for his name, he felt something hit his head, the impact forcing him to black out, his body slamming on the damp cement ground.

Beneath the shadow of the bridge walked out a woman with long auburn hair tied loosely back in a ponytail. She wore a dress which fell to the floor, the ends stained in grey and red, her petticoat hiding her numerous weapons under her dress, including the bat she held in her hands right now.

‘You seem cute’, Mild sighed, looking down at the poor boy that Off had led to her. She used her foot to kick the hair out of the way, staring down at his face, which looked sweet and way too innocent to get caught up with someone like Off Jumpol, ‘Such a shame’, her clothes were outdated and smeared in bleach and sewn together with other pieces of material to keep it together, but it still fit her figure perfectly, tucking the bat under her skirt as he whistled for her ladies to come out from the shadows.

‘Is he the one?’, Apple was the first to join her, placing a kiss on her cheeks as they stood side by side to stare down at the unconscious boy, letting her arm rest around her waist.

‘Unfortunately so’, she whispered back, ‘Bring him to my office ladies, and don’t let anyone see you’, she shouted to the other ladies who had started to tie his arms and legs with ropes, ‘I’m gonna have breakfast before I interrogate Off’s mess’

‘Why do you always clean up after him?’, Apple asked, holding onto Mild’s hand whilst they wait for the girls to lift the boy up into their carriage.

‘You know how it is’, Mild stroke her hair back, brushing off the air which covered her eyes, ‘Behind every man is a woman pulling all the strings. He’ll die without me’

‘Then just get rid of him’, Apple rolled her eyes whenever Mild used the same excuse, ‘Take his franchise with you’

‘I would, but I can’t be bothered to keep up with all his enemies. I’d rather leech off him and let him deal with the excess. There’s more peace for us’, she smirked, leaning in to place a small kiss on her lover before turning back to her ladies.

‘I’ll see you in my office in an hour’, she called out of them, ‘Keep an eye on him, Off said he’s someone to watch out for’

‘He doesn’t look dangerous’, one of her girls snorted, kicking the boy’s face before covering it with a sheet, getting on the carriage.

‘If Off says he is, then trust me’, Mild shouted to her girls, warning them never to underestimate anyone, especially if they’ve crossed paths with Off, ‘He’s dangerous’

Atthaphan should’ve used his instincts to reevaluate his plan. The young detective never once been fooled this hard by any of his suspects, but he overestimated himself with Off. Looks like he’s not just any other man that he could swindle his way into.

The great detective may have just been outsmarted by a street rat, and now he has to find his way out of the grips of his most loyal partner, Mild Lapassalan.


	5. 05

The three Adulkittiporn brothers were born after one another, with only a year separating them. But that meant Arm was two years younger than his eldest brother and his best friend, so he never thought he’d ever had a shot with Alice. She was beautiful and intelligent and she also spoke her mind, so he didn’t have to wonder what she was thinking, she was brave enough to talk about her opinions and dreams. He supposed he should’ve been jealous of Off for being close with her, but he had no choice but to be grateful. Once they left the orphanage, instead of separating, he managed to persuade Alice to live with them, picking up spare jobs until they had enough money to set up a small business of their own.

Off was twenty-nine whilst he just turned twenty-seven, so everyone still treated him like a kid, including Alice and he hated it. He hated being the youngest, he hated the fact that Tay was only a year younger than Off and most importantly, he hated the fact that they at least had one memory of their mother when all he ever remembered was the damp room of the orphanage and his brother’ silent singing when he couldn’t stop crying during the winter when his body would be in pain due to an empty stomach.

It’s probably why he loved to cause trouble, to punish his brothers for having the one thing he always wanted but he knew he could never have.

He daydreamed about the days where his mother must’ve held him as a baby, imagining just how warm her arms are, softly cradling him as she sung him to sleep with her soft voice. He didn’t even know what she looked like since all of her photos were torn once they were thrown into the orphanage after their father refused to take them with him to his journeys to America, so he couldn’t even picture himself being in a normal family.

He was close to getting it. During the last year of the war when his brothers were drafted, he took the opportunity to get to know Alice, to truly get to know her more than his crush and the only woman he’d ever admired. She was like a dream. During that year alone, she was no longer his brother’s best friend, but Alice Tsoi, the leader of the Slashers and the one that kept everything afloat whilst his brothers were away. Everyone expected Arm to be the one to take the reins, but his brother was smart to hand the role to Alice, because she was tough but gentle at the same time, intelligent and brave. No one tried to fool her and if they did, they were banished.

Arm was privileged to have stayed by her side to protect her. He would do anything in his power to keep her safe, not because he thought she couldn’t do it herself, Alice grew up in the same slums as him, he knew how strong she was, but he just wanted to make her life easier, because he knew she always had it difficult.

It shook him to the core when Alice announced her departure from the group, announcing it after leaving Off’s office. He could only conclude that the two never saw eye to eye since Off’s return from France and she couldn’t keep up with his antics anymore. He thought maybe in the past year, she may have changed the way she saw him, but her departure stopped him from asking her. He had to throw away the ring he bought just for her.

‘Arm!’

He escaped from his daydream when he heard his name being called, bringing him back to reality where he was taking care of his brother’s bar. He promised to take care of it for the night whilst he sort out their brother’s dealings.

‘Alice’, he smiled as soon as she saw her walking down the stairs, still in her uniform with her bag swinging on her side, ‘What are you doing here?’, he asked, lifting up the counter and going over to give her a hug. He thought she wasn’t going to visit him again after the mess he made this morning, but with her cheery smile and relaxed posture, he sighed in relief and hugged her tighter.

‘I just finished my shift and I thought I’d get myself a drink’, she explained, ‘Tay also called me to say you’ll be in charge of the bar and to keep an eye on you. He said you had a habit of giving away his whisky collection’, she chuckled at the end.

‘So, you’re not mad at me?’, Arm asked nervously, scratching his head as he waited for her answer.

‘I was’, she replied, her smile slowly fading as she stared at him, ‘But I understand why you did it. I just hope you don’t do it again, okay?

‘If you come back and work for us, then you wouldn’t have these scums getting brave and trying to mess with you’, Arm pointed out, ‘You were the leader once. Everyone feared you’

‘Which is exactly why I wanted to leave’, Alice sighed, she’d had this conversation with him before but Arm could never understand, ‘I didn’t want to live my life hiding in the shadows and getting my hands dirty’

You and I both know that’s a lie’, Arm whispered, ‘You were powerful and you loved it. I don’t know why you would give it up to wait on tables and serve drinks’

‘No one lives long enough’, Alice whispered, ‘The truth is, I’ve seen more deaths in the past year as a leader than I’ve ever seen and… I don’t think I want that for me’

Arm could continue to argue with her, or he could sigh in relief that he was forgiven, and he chose the latter as he grabbed her hand, pulling her across the dance floor where he swayed her around, making her laugh as he began to dance. Arm was never a good dancer but Alice loved the fact that he didn’t, jumping up and down and bopping his head whilst they listened to the live performers cook up a beat.

No matter how much Alice complained about Arm or screamed to her best friend to control him, she knew she loved being with Arm, dancing foolishly with him despite all the mess he made that she always had to clean up. Because, just as much as Arm knew Alice, she also knew him well. They’ve suffered together, overcome together and held up an empire in the middle of a war whilst making it out alive to see the business grow. Alice couldn’t help but grow fond for the boy, so when Off propose a plan to her this morning, telling her to marry Arm, she welcomed the idea quickly than she’d like to admit. Because she knew she couldn’t live without the Adulkittiporn brothers, but more importantly, she couldn’t imagine living without Arm anymore.

But a gangster’s life is short-lived, and with Arm’s impulsive behaviour, she worried for him. She didn’t know whether he was gonna come home alive or wrapped in a white sheet and that terrified her, especially during the time where she was in charge and she realised the extent to which Arm got in trouble.

But she didn’t need to think about that now. Not when she could enjoy the rest of her night with Arm, singing along with the performers as they took care of Tay’s bar.

* * *

Viscount Thitipoom escaped his father’s entourage once the ball was over, slipping through the back entrance and finding himself walking alone in the streets of London. But he saw Louis walking out this way and a sudden urge to follow him brought him to where he was no, looking around for the mysterious boy that caught his attention.

‘Viscount Thitipoom, what’re you doing here?’, the young man turned and gasped when he saw a shadow standing next to him, sighing in relief when the street lamp lit the stranger’s face.

‘Louis’, he smiled when he found the boy, ‘I thought I lost you’

‘Lost me? You were looking for me?’, the man smiled at him, his sweet one that New fell for the moment he saw it. His father warned his not to entertain city boys, but he couldn’t help it. He was intrigued and he loved going after things that piqued his interest.

‘Are you heading home already?’, he asked with a shy tone in his voice, his cheeks pale yet pink from asking such a question.

‘Yeah, it’s getting late’, Louis nodded, ‘and you should head home too. It’s dangerous in London’

‘Yeah, I read in the newspaper’, New nodded, ‘The murders are rampant’

‘Ah yes, the hand stealer’, Louis chuckled, ‘Which is why you should go to your hotel room’

‘Or maybe I can spend some more time with you’

‘Oh no’, Louis smirked, ‘You shouldn’t wander off with a stranger. What good would that do’

‘You’re no stranger’, New smiled back, ‘Your name’s Louis’

‘No it’s not’, Tay decided not to lie anymore, not when he needs to do business with him, so he reached his hand out to offer it to New, ‘My real name’s Tay but I needed to change it because I’m not welcomed around here’

The Viscount furrowed his brow, tilting his head in confusion as he looked down on his hand.

‘I beg your pardon?’, he took a step back, clearly shocked at the sudden change of events, which only made Tay laugh.

‘Have you ever heard of the Cuff Slashers?’

‘The Cuff…’, New didn’t finish his sentence, how could he when he remembered his father mentioning it a few dinners ago, ‘They’re a gang in East London. One father told me to avoid doing business with at all cost’

‘Yes, that’s the one’, Tay smiled, his hand still out in the open for him to reach, ‘I came to see if I can change your mind’

‘Change my mind?’

‘In doing business with us’

He didn’t know whether he should be shocked or disappointed, but instead he was slightly heartbroken at the notion that the intriguing man only wanted to speak business with him, something he hated doing.

‘So, you weren’t interested in me tonight?’, New asked, taking another step back and refusing to shake his hand.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You just wanted to dance with me so you can get me to take business’, New accused him, his expression changing from sadness to bitterness within a second, ‘You’re just like the rest of them’

‘What makes you think I wanted to dance with you because of business?’, Tay snickered, ‘It’s my brother’s job to talk business with you, he’s the one in charge’

‘Then why were you here tonight?’

‘I was asked to show you a good time since it’s your first time in London’, Tay told him, which wasn’t a lie, his brother had warned him to treat the Viscount well, ‘And I hoped I lived up to the expectations tonight’

‘Well, you did’, New muttered, ‘Before you ruined it with business talk’

‘Not a fan, I imagine?’

‘No’

‘Me too’, Tay took his hand away when New showed no signs of taking it, sliding it back inside his pockets as he leaned on the street lamp, ‘I let my brother do the talking whilst I have fun’

‘And you had fun tonight too?’

‘Only when I was with you’

‘Huh, my father warned about Londoners and their sweet talk’, New smiled, feeling relaxed again once he learned of Tay’s real identity, ‘But I do have to admit, I love it’

‘Do you?’, Tay smirked back, standing straight as he walked over to New, standing only inches apart, ‘If you want, I can show you my side of London’

‘And is it better than here?’

‘You won’t find out unless you come with me’, Tay whispered to him, sending shivers down his spine as he rested his lips on his ears, ‘So, what say you?’

‘I hope you have a car’

* * *

**The Next Morning**

Atthaphan felt an aching on the back of his head. He groaned as his eyes fluttered opened, squinting from the sudden gush of light entering his vision.

‘Mhhm’, he tried to stretch his arms, but he realised he couldn’t, something harsh pinning him down and forcing him awake, ‘Huh?’, he managed to moan out as he looked down on his lap, realising he was tied to a chair, his hands tied behind his back and his legs taped on each chair leg, ‘What the hell?’

‘Good morning Att’, a voice greeted him, forcing him to look up to where a desk was placed in front of him, a young woman sitting on it with her legs crossed, a bat on her hand as she smiled to him, ‘Nice to see you’re finally awake’

‘Who the hell are you? And where am I?’, his voice was croaky and his head was still spinning, but he managed to gain enough consciousness to start questioning the woman in front of him.

‘You went and searched for me yourself’, she snickered, ‘I’m surprised you’re brave enough to look for Mild’

‘You’re Mild?’

‘Yep’, she said, her lips popping the ‘p’, ‘And Off said you were a rat’

‘A… Rat?’, Atthaphan furrowed his brow, confused as to what was going on.

‘He sniffed you out. Said you went to his office and jerked him off to try and get some information out of him’

‘What?!’

_He knew what I was doing?_

Atthaphan quickly tried to loosen the rope around his hands, but it was tightly secured around him, burning his skin whenever he tried to move.

‘Stop fidgeting’, Mild warned him as she jumped off the desk, letting her bat drag to the floor as she walked closer to him.

_Shit, shit, shit._

Does Off knew about his connections with the police? Just how much did Off know about him? Was Mild sent to finish him off? He needed to get out of here and meet Inspector Craine now before they found about his real identity.

‘So, when did Buggy Boy hire you?’

‘Excuse me?’, Atthaphan asked when she stepped on his lap, pressing her shoe down on her leg as she grabbed on his chin, forcing him to look at her.

‘Buggy Boy hired you to stay close to his son, am I right?’

‘No, you’re not’, Atthaphan replied, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’

‘Off told me you didn’t know how to gold a gun, but you manage to shoot with perfect aim at one of Buggy Boy’s men without killing them. That’s enough reason for both of us to suspect that you’re working under him’

‘I told him already!’, Atthaphan shouted, trying to get Mild’s hands off him, ‘It was beginner’s luck!’

‘Still using that excuse?’, Mild chuckled, swinging her bat in the air and letting it hit the wooden floor where Atthaphan most definitely heard a crack, ‘I’ve lived in the streets all my life and even I’m not used to the weight of a gun’, she pointed out, letting go of his chin and stepping back, ‘So you might as well stop lying’

‘I’m serious’, Atthaphan replied, ‘I’m not lying’

‘Then tell me why’re you here?’, she asked, walking around him with her arms crossed, letting her dress drag to the floor, ‘You went into his office to look for information and found my name and went to look for me. Why were you looking for information? Huh?’

Atthaphan bit the inside of his cheeks, anting to punch himself for leaving behind such an obvious trail behind him. During his days undercover, he’d never leave behind such a huge mark that might lead back to him. But he also wanted to punch Off for noticing, because no one else would’ve under the circumstances they were in.

‘You better answer before I start my real interrogation’, Mild raised her voice, kicking the chair leg and making him shake, ‘Because I can get real nasty when I need to’

‘I wanted to know more about Arm’, Atthaphan answered truthfully, not knowing how to make a lie out of the truth, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Mild walked back over to face him, leaning down so they could see eye to eye.

‘And why do you need information about Arm’

‘Because he might be linked to the murders in London’

‘The Hand Stealer?’, Mild raised her brow when he answered her, ‘Why would Arm be linked with that?’

‘Don’t you know him?’, Atthaphan asked, ‘He’s violent, impulsive and does whatever he wants’

‘Oh, I know him alright’, Mild chuckled, ‘But that doesn’t mean he’s the Hand Stealer. He’s got better things to do than dump bodies all over London’

‘You can’t rule him out’

‘Why’re you so adamant?’, Mild interrogated him, ‘Why’re you obsessed with the Hand Stealer?’

‘Because…’, Atthaphan had to lie this time, and he deducted in his mind the best possible lie that would make sense whilst still being believable at the same time, ‘My only family was murdered by the Hand Stealer’, he blurted out.

‘Excuse me?’

‘I found out I had family living in London, but alas, I found their name on the list of victims in the morning newspaper once I arrived’, he explained, his hand bleeding from the rope burn, ‘I wanted to find the culprit, or to at least reach out to anyone who might know the murderer and ask why they would kill my… My…’, Atthaphan raced through his memory of the list written in his notebook of all the victims names, their background and status, ‘My dear great aunt Imelda’, he blurted out, ‘Her name was in the newspaper no more than two weeks ago’

‘Are you serious? I thought you were an orphan?’, Mild scoffed, about to laugh when she noticed him getting tear eyed.

‘So you can imagine my distraught when I find my only surviving family whom I can reach out to was drastically killed before I ever got to her’, he cried out, hanging his head down as he let the rope continue to burn his hand, forcing him to wince in pain until he managed to creat a few tears.

‘Woah’, Mild stepped back, ‘Are you telling the truth?’

‘Why else would I seek a job from a Slasher if I wasn’t desperate?’, Atthaphan cried out, ‘I spent all my money to come here only to be homeless again, which is why I sought work for Off. It was only when my suspicions grew over Arm did I decide to snoop around, but it was never my intentions in the first place. I just… Wanted to find some justice’

‘Then you came to the wrong place’, Mild sighed, watching him cry his heart out and leaning back on the desk. She wanted to have fun today, she loved beating up men, especially if they were scums, but she found no fault in the boy’s story. She was right the first time she saw him walking around the bridge looking lost, he was too innocent to ever get caught up with Off and Buggy Boy’s dirty hands, ‘And why would you give Off a handjob? That made you more suspicious to the man, so much so that he called me to look after you’

‘How else could I have gotten information?’, Atthaphan sighed, sniffing his runny nose, ‘He’s a man with needs, right?’

‘I’m afraid Off is a little different than most men’, Mild chuckled, leaning her chin on her bat, ‘But your idea isn’t bad. You just used it on the wrong man’

‘Did he ask you to kill me?’, he whispered, forcing himself to sound weak but in his head he was pissed. At himself, at Off, at his superior for even ordering him to work undercover.

‘No, he just told me to teach you a lesson and exile you out of London’, Mild replied truthfully, ‘But I won’t do the first part. I’m too kind to hit an innocent person’

‘Are you gonna let me go?’

‘I’ll let my girls drive you out. They can drop you off Essex where you can make you way back to your home before you arrived in London’, she explained, leaving her bat behind her desk as she walked behind him, kneeling on the floor and grabbing her knife, cutting him free.

‘Am I not allowed to keep my job?’

‘You wanna go back to him?’, Mild asked with a suspicious tone, walking over to kneel in front of him as he cut the ropes around his ankles, ‘Honey, you’re lucky I’m offering you a ride far away from him. I mean, I love the guy, but if I had a choice, I wouldn’t associate myself with him’

‘Please, I need this job’, Atthaphan whispered to her, ‘Can’t you get through to him and ask him to keep me employed?’

‘If you don’t have any family here then you I suggest you start somewhere new’, Mild warned him, ‘Staying near Off wouldn’t do you any good’

‘But-’

‘You’ll arrive in Essex by four in the afternoon’, Mild stopped him before he could try to persuade her again, ‘Maybe you could settle down there and fine a job. You look strong enough to find work’, she patted his head and opened her office door, whistling for her girls. She turned back to look at the boy, feeling sorry for him, ‘I would apologise but it seems like it’s Off that got his information wrong but you won’t get an apology from him’, she chuckled at the last bit tying her hair back in a ponytail and walking out of her office, shutting the door behind and leaving Atthaphan alone.

Inspector Craine was gonna kill him.

* * *

‘You fired him?!’, Alice shouted when Off arrived to her apartment, informing her that Att would no longer be working for them.

‘Att’s gone?’, Chimon asked when he walked into the kitchen to hear Alice shouting at Off. He held onto the notebook Att gave him, his handwriting scribbled all over the pages as he practiced all night to write his own name by himself.

‘He worked for your father’, Off turned to look at the teenager, ‘We needed to get rid of him soon’

‘How did you know he worked for Buggy Boy?’, Alice tugged at his arm, forcing him to look back at her, ‘Did you ask him?’

‘Yeah, because he would admit to me that he secretly worked for my rival’, Off scoffed, rolling his eyes and glaring at his best friend, ‘Think outside the box Alice’

‘Then how did you know?’, Alice shouted at him, trying hard not to punch his best friend in the face right now.

‘I sent him to Mild’

‘You did what?!’, Alice screamed, hitting his head with his hand as she turned around and rested her head on the fridge door, ‘He won’t make it out alive’

‘That was the plan’, Off muttered, trying to push Chimon out of the kitchen so they could have a private conversation, but the teenager was too interested with what happened to his tutor to let Off push him out the door.

‘He’s not a spy, have you seen the sight of him! He was just an orphan in need of a job!’

‘He knew how to use a gun Alice’, Off explained his decision, ‘No one pretends not to know how to use a gun then perfectly shoots a man from twelve feet away. That’s crazy’

‘So what if he has a past he doesn’t wanna talk about? Don’t we all?’, Alice shouted back at him, ‘If he said he’d never held a gun, then let him think that. He’s probably trying to get away from his past. We’ve all done stupid shit to survive once’

‘Alice, this is Chimon we’re talking’, Off pointed to the clueless boy who still stood by the door of the kitchen, ‘Everyone is trying to get to him, so call me paranoid, but we need to be careful with who we let him be close with. And I don’t trust that Att kid’

‘But I trust him’, Alice replied, combing her hair back in frustration, ‘And don’t you trust me?’

‘This isn’t about my trust on you’, Off stopped her before she could jump into conclusion, ‘You know I’d trust you with every ounce of my life’

‘Then you should’ve let Att stay’, Alice whispered to him, a wave of disappointment flashing in her eyes, ‘You should’ve trusted me’

‘Alice, I-’, before Off could explain himself, they heard loud knocking at the door, followed by Chimon walking to the front and looking through the peephole.

‘Att!’, he screamed in delight which confused the adult as they raced their way to the hallway to find the young man standing by the door with his clothes all stained in ashes and dust and his lip bloodied.

‘What the hell?’, Off shouted as soon as he laid eyes on the boy.

‘Oh God’, Alice tuts as she raced to where he was, pulling him inside her apartment and shutting the door behind, dragging him to the kitchen, ‘Look what Mild did to you! Did she punch you?’

‘No no, this wasn’t her’, Att replied, heaving as if he’d been running across the whole city – which he did, ‘She told her girls to drive me to Essex but I jumped out of the carriage and my face landed on the ground. I busted my lip, but I’m fine. I managed to escape before they noticed’

‘Mild didn’t lay a finger on you?’, Off asked when he looked at his pale arms, seeing not even a scratch on his skin apart from his busted lip, ‘Why?’

‘Are you asking him why he didn’t get beat up to death by your psycho girlfriend?’, Alice hissed at him, kicking his leg at such an insensitive question.

‘Not my girlfriend’, Off corrected her for the thousandth time, ‘We fucked once’

‘I don’t care. Stop asking Mild to beat up everyone you don’t like’, Alice turned to glare at his best friend before grabbing an ointment from one of her drawers, ‘Att, you must’ve been traumatised’

Chimon walked back into the kitchen, placing his notebook down on the counter as he walked to keep Att company, holding onto his arm as he watched him wince in pain from the ointment.

‘Don’t worry, I asked for it’, he shrugged it off, ‘Off had every rights to be suspicious of me’

‘No, he didn’t’, Alice said, ‘He’s manipulating you to think that’

‘No, I mean it’, Att shook his head, ‘I went to his office and distracted him whilst I snooped for some information’

‘Wait what?’

‘So you admit to that at least’, Off scoffed when Att confessed nonchalantly, crossing his arms and watching his best friend tend for the rat’s wounds, ‘Just say you were hired by Buggy Boy so I can prove my innocence’

‘I wasn’t’, Att turned to finally look at him, the two meeting again after that night, ‘I wanted to find out if Arm was the Hand Stealer’

‘Excuse me?’, Alice stopped putting the ointment on his lips when Arm was suddenly mentioned in the narrative.

‘I came to London to look for my last living family, Aunt Imelda, but I saw her name on the list of victims. I was homeless and needed a job so I came to you when I heard people whispering your name. I only started snooping around when I started getting suspicious of Arm. I thought if he was the Hand Stealer, I can help bring justice to my great aunt’s death’

‘What an elaborate story’, Off scoffed, ‘But I’m afraid that sounds a little too perfect to be true’

‘Off, could you offer him some sympathy’, Alice kicked her best friend again, ‘He’s just lost his only living family and so a selfish bastard’

‘You’re defending him as if he’s not accusing my brother of murder’, Off argued back to Alice, ‘My brother is stupid but innocent’

‘He’s got a point Att. I know Arm, he would never do anything like that’

‘But I didn’t know him’, Att defended himself, ‘Am I not allowed to suspect him?’

‘So… If you don’t work for my dad… Can you stay?’, Chimon joined in the conversation, asking the question he’d been dying to ask to Off when he saw his tutor return.

‘No’

‘What?!’, Alice and Chimon shouted at him.

‘He still shouldn’t be trusted’

‘I apologise on my part’, Att spoke to him first, ‘I was acting suspicious and it’s not your fault for being cautious… But I really need this job and… I know Chimon needs me to’

‘In your dreams Att’, Off rolled his eyes and grabbed his cane, making his way to Alice’s front door.

‘Off, please!’, he heard the boy calling out to him. He didn’t expect to see Att ever again, so this whole conversation threw him off and he needed to see Mild now and ask her why she would let him go that easily.

‘I need to go meet with Mild’, Off announced, opening the door and about to walk out when he felt something hit his back. It was hard and it landed with a thump on the floor. He turned around and looked down on the carpet where he saw a shoe in front of him.

Att had raced his way out into he hallway, taking off his shoe and throwing it at him.

‘Did you just throw a shoe at me?’

‘I want to keep this job’, Att called out to him, ‘I promise I won’t snoop around anymore. Just let me have this job’

‘I don’t trust you’, Off repeated himself, bending down to pick up the shoe and glaring back at him, ‘And you cannot work for me if I don’t fucking trust you’, he threw the shoe back, letting it hit Att’s chest, but the boy didn’t flinch, he didn’t even squirm in pain.

‘Then I’ll stay by your side’, Att called out, ‘I’ll got straight to your office after I finish teaching Chimon. I’ll write a report of our conversations and you can read it’

‘No thanks. I don’t need a lapdog’, Off replied.

‘Then just let me prove myself… Please’

‘Off… I… I don’t know if I matter… But I really like Att and I trust him’, Chimon managed to stutter out his approval of the boy, walking out to the hallway as well, ‘Can he keep his job? Please?’

‘He’s Chimon’s tutor, not yours’, Alice reminded him, ‘He should have a say in it’

‘For the love of God’, Off closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He would’ve shot Att right then and there for wasting his time and giving him stress, but the only reason why he stayed quiet is because Mild trusted him with every scum he threw her way. She never believe the suspect in question and let him free out of her sight and back to his doorstep so he wondered if Att must’ve said something to her that made her believe him over her trusted partner.

Added onto the fact that her best friend was also siding with the stranger. He had to rethink his approach a little.

‘My apartment’, Off announced, breaking the silence as he glared at the young man, ‘You stay in my apartment and I’ll let you continue to tutor Chimon’

‘Seriously?’, Att let out a huge grin, one which he couldn’t help escape from his lips, ‘Agreed’

‘If I catch you snooping around again’, Off pointed an accusing finger at him, ‘I’ll kill you myself’, he turned before he could listen to anymore of their voice, slamming the door shut and limping towards his car. He’s got too much work on his mind and he doesn’t need to suffer more stress before of a young man.

‘God, give me a good reason to kill this kid soon’, he muttered to himself as he made his way to the car, dropping his cane on the passenger seat as he turned on the engine, letting his vehicle roar to life. Att was a puzzle he still couldn’t solve but now he also couldn’t get rid of and he was stating to really fucking hate him.


	6. 06

‘I told you to kill him, didn’t I?’

‘He’s an orphan who was at the wrong place at the wrong time’, Mild rolled her eyes when he heard Off’s jarring voice enter her office, her door slammed open and the sound of his cane tapping against the floorboard, ‘Let him off the hook’

‘At the very least, I expected him battered and bruised when he made his way back to my fucking turf, but there wasn’t a scratch on his fucking skin’, Off bit the inside of his cheeks, trying not to raise his voice since Mild was someone who cared not of anyone status and will cut a bitch who disrespected her in her own office. He tightened his grip on his cane, lowering his gaze as he watched Mild sit back on her chair, her leg up and resting on her desk as she used the tip of her knife to get rid of the dirt underneath her nails.

‘I was told Alice was the one who hired him’, Mild yawned, her gaze focused on her hands rather than her best partner, ‘I trust Alice more than I trust you’, she smiled a little, knowing Off was probably still threatened by the presence Alice left behind when she gave back his role after the war, but it cannot be ignored. Alice Tsoi kept the Slashers thriving under his absence, and even more so, she created no new enemies like what Off’s been doing lately.

‘I need someone transparent to take care of my leverage’, Off replied calmly, walking over to sit down on the empty chair facing her desk, ‘And you never questioned my instincts. Why change now?’

‘He’s an orphan just like us’, Mild pointed out, finally looking up at Off and stabbing her knife down on her desk and letting it rest upright against the wood, ‘He deserves to have some of his secrets hidden if it guarantees them a job’

‘His secrets almost had his hands cut off’, Off hissed a little, glaring at the woman opposite him, ‘Mild, you’re also gaining safety for your women with Buggy Boy’s son under my care. He stopped harassing you, hasn’t he? What will happen if we lose Chimon?’

‘Look, Chimon needs a reason to continue to side with us when he comes of age’, Mild argued, ‘I only allowed him to be left under your care because you gave him to Alice. If not, he should’ve been under my girls’ care’

‘Chimon needs better protection’

‘He also needs a guardian’, Mild added on, combing her hair back and tying it into a messy bun, strands of hair falling down and resting on he cheeks, ‘That young man might be someone who can be a good guardian for him. You think that too, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, you’d be down in Canary Wharf trying to get rid of an orphan’s body’

‘He smells like trouble’, Off warned her when she continued to ignore him, standing up and tapping his cane, a sign that he was ready to leave, ‘And it’s us who’s going to be dead because of him’

‘Off Jumpol and Mild Lapassalan will not be threatened by a nameless young lad’, she laughed at him, watching him walk out of her office, slamming the door shut and leaving her alone to wonder how the young man could escape her women and managed to walk all the way back to Alice’s apartment. Off had a point, he was an orphan with a mysterious past and an array of unexplained talents and brute courage to continue to pester even the devil himself.

* * *

‘What’s your full name?’, Off asked when he watched the young man follow him to his apartment, the pair holding a conversation in the same place they first met. Despite his riches, Off chose to stay close to how he was raised, taking rest in a small apartment in Hamstead Heath. The wallpaper was stained and rotting, ceiling cracked and moist, yet it’s still held up. Att didn’t have the pleasure to look around the apartment the first time, but he had a sense that the place was somewhere a person like Off would live. It was small, like all the other homes clustered together in London, barely any breathing space with small windows, single glazed so a fireplace will be needed to keep the place warm.

‘Att Wiwattanawarang’, the young man responded, setting his bag down on the kitchen floor, seemingly the thirtieth time he’d packed in less than two weeks, but as of right now, he wasn’t complaining, since he managed to get himself back into the lion’s den, which wasn’t easy seeing as he was almost tortured to death by the crazy man’s girlfriend this morning and was about to be banished out of the city. He had to thank Chimon for having a soft spot for him, otherwise Inspector Craine might fire him for incompetency.

‘Your full name cannot be Att’, Off respond, not a smile on his face or a sweat beading down his forehead. The man had barely showed any emotion since he arrived, but Atthaphan knew he still had to be careful, especially since he had recently underestimated him which led him to begging on his knees for a second chance. It tore his pride that he had to succumb to following the leader’s orders, but if his suspicions were made true, then his supervisor had a valid reason for sending his best to keep an eye on Off Jumpol. He was in fact the eyes and ears of the city, thus any information doesn’t leave his ears unattended.

Off Jumpol knows who the killer is and it’s his job to sweet talk it out of him.

‘It says so on my birth certificate’, Atthaphan lied, unbuttoning his bag and throwing the files that were given to him by his superior, letting it land on the kitchen table. It already looked aged and stained, the paper shaded in brown and tea stains, but Off picked it up nonetheless, flicking through the documents, his eyes shifting from left to right, his fingers tapping the edges of the pages before flipping onto the next one.

‘Interesting’, Off smirked, the first signs of emotions that he had shown, ‘An educated orphan. What a contradiction’

‘You’re one yourself’, Atthaphan pointed out, leaning on the wooden door, chipped off its paint and its doorknob rusting, ‘A rich orphan. That’s an impossibility you’ve made possible’

‘I am the impossible’, Off replied, throwing the files back to him, ‘You think you’re off the hook because Mild didn’t believe me, huh?’

‘She knows how to read people’, Atthaphan shrugged, trying to keep confident, but the mere presence of Off’s intense glare was even affecting him of all people.

‘I know how to fake a document’, Off reminded him, ‘I can tell what’s too good to be real and those files. Well, they’re too perfect’

‘If you suspect me any further, then just cut my hands off and banish me out of the city’

‘I tried that, didn’t I?’

‘Do it yourself next time’, Atthaphan threatened him, ‘Or do you need someone to do it for you’

‘I don’t waste my time on useless errands’, Off simply shrugged as he replied, leaning his cane on the kitchen table as he stood up straight, taking off his gloves in front of Atthaphan. This was the first time the young detective laid eyes on his bare hands, and he couldn’t help but glue his eyes on the distorted texture of burnt skin, calloused and browning at the edges.

Off noticed the glaring eyes, of course he would, no one liked anything that looked remotely out of place and the others showed no signs of looking away.

‘German attack under the tunnels’, Off explained, ‘I caused a distraction so the rest of my men could get out’

‘Is that why you won a medal?’

‘You’ve heard?’, Off asked, setting his leather gloves down on the kitchen stove, loosening the tie around his neck as he turned the stove on, setting a kettle down and making himself a cup of tea.

‘Everyone in Camden kept on saying you and your brother are war heroes. That’s the excuse they make when they’re asked why they work for you’

‘A hero’, Off chuckled, hearing the squeals of the kettle, watching the steam fly out until it reaching the ceiling, ‘I guess that’s a valid excuse’

‘I’m sorry about the other day’, Atthaphan decided to bring the subject up himself, ‘I’m not a spy. I just wanted to know if you knew who the Hand Stealer were’

‘To avenge your family?’

‘Yeah’

‘Let me tell you something’, Off began as he leaned on the kitchen counter, waiting for the water to boil as he slid his hand inside his pocket to pick out a cigarette, letting it hang between his lips, ‘Revenge feels good only for five minutes. After that, you’re gonna be spending the rest of your life wondering if it was worth your time’

‘Don’t lecture me on things you’ve done’, Atthaphan rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and looking down at his foot as he listened to Off’s deep voice, finding no energy to pretend to even be remotely interested in a gangster’s advice, ‘You’ve got more blood in your hands than the King, and he sent the entire nation into war’

‘Don’t compare me to the King’, Off growled, walking over to where the young man was standing, reaching his calloused hand and grabbing Atthaphan’s chin, banging his head against the door, ‘His majesty is no match for me. At least I know who I’m sending to war’

‘You’re still sending them nonetheless’, Atthaphan spat out, his saliva landing on Off’s cheeks, but he paid no attention to it, his eyes continuing to glare down at Atthaphan, ‘You hate the King when you’re the one mimicking him like a wannabe royal’

‘I’m no royal’, Off leaned down and whispered in his ears, sending shivers down his spine with his warm breath, ‘But I can command the winds just as much as he can, and do you wanna know why?’

‘Get off me’, Atthaphan bit back, trying to push the hand away from his face, but the rough skin stayed pinned against his chin.

‘Because I control the shadows of this nation’, Off whispered back, finally letting go of Atthaphan’s face and taking a step back, ‘You can’t hide in the shadows. I’ll strip you bare and find out exactly what you’re hiding, so don’t get to comfortable here Att. You’re still under my watch’

‘You’re going to kick yourself in the head once you find out I’m fucking innocent’, Atthaphan spat at him one more time, this time Off using the ends of his sleeves to wipe the saliva which landed on his cheeks. He didn’t know if Off was going to hit him, but when he didn’t, he pushed the man out of the way, walking out of the kitchen and slamming the door shut.

‘You’re sleeping on the floor!’, he heard Off shouting at him, which forced him to react in anger, kicking the coffee table once he reached the living room, biting his lip to stop his anger which threatened to overflow.

‘Even if you’re not the killer, I’ll have you jailed, I swear on my fucking grave’, Atthaphan whispered to himself, looking out of the window to see the grew smokes of the factory covering the moon and wishing the Hand Stealer would make another move so his investigation can be closed. He’d never wanted to kill anyone more than Off Jumpol.

* * *

_‘Where’s the young Viscount?’_

The question was murmured by the house staff resisting in Chelsea when they found Viscount Thitipoom’s bed empty and well pressed, as if no one had laid on the soft sheets all night – and in truth – no one had, for their precious Viscount laid in someone else’s sheets, on the other side of London.

‘Fuck’, he whispered when he felt Tay’s hot mouth around his cock. They’d stayed in bed all night after he allowed the mysterious young man to play with his body till sunrise, his energy worn out till he awoke late in the afternoon. When he checked the time, he told Tay he needed to go back to his father, but the young man wanted their fun to continue, sliding under the sheets, hiding his face when he ravished his bruised body one more time. New couldn’t see him, but he could feel him under the sheets, warm hands massaging his thighs, head bobbing as he sucked him off, ‘Tay, I need to go’, he managed to say in between him moans, yet his body showed no signs of resistance, biting his lips till it was red and bleeding, his hands combing through Tay’s hair.

Tay Tawan didn’t stop, not when he felt the Viscount close to his organism, feeling his muscles twitch before him until he tasted something in his mouth. He couldn’t help but chuckle, dragging the blanket out of the bed, letting it land on his floorboards and finally watching New’s expression, one which consisted of rolled eyes and parted lips.

‘I suppose you won’t have time for some lunch, eh?’

‘My father’s gonna report me missing if I don’t make it back to the hotel in the next hour’, New replied, his chest rising from breathlessness, ‘And I still have yet to meet my suitors’

‘Oh, is that why you travelled to good ol’ London? To find a husband?’

‘My father’s orders’, New rolled his eyes, looking out the small window of the man’s apartment, seeing the afternoon sun finally shading light on the small room, even smaller than his storage room back home in Hereford. The walls were brown and chipped off its colour, the bed small and mattress hard. For someone who’d never find themselves dead in these places, he couldn’t help but wonder why he would allow someone to take his virginity all night here.

‘Such a shame’, Tay sighed, sitting up and looking down on the floor to look for his clothes, ‘I wonder if I’m able to become one of your suitors’

‘One night and you already wanna marry me?’, New laughed, watching Tay dress himself in front of him, showing no signs of shyness and why should he? He was arrogant and brave from start to finish last night. He definitely didn’t belong in the upper class who shied away in these types of situation.

‘Marry you?’, Tay smirked, putting on his white shirt and turning to smile at the Viscount, ‘You’ve already given me something I can cherish, I don’t need marriage at this point’

‘Don’t take me as an object’, New stopped smiling when he listened to Tay joke, ‘I agreed to spend the night with you because I was intrigued’

‘Yes you were’, Tay winked, leaning on his drawers, opening the window as he took out a cigarette, stolen from his brother’s office, letting it rest in his lips as he grabbed a lighter, ‘Now, do you wan someone like me to drop you off, or are you okay to make your way back to your hotel?’

‘Do people in the West not like you?’

‘I’m a Slasher kid’, Tay reminded him, blowing out the smoke towards the open window, not wanting to discomfort the Viscount from the ugly smell, ‘They slit my throat if they ever saw me there again’

‘Then disguise yourself’, New stood up, grabbing his clothes, ‘I don’t know my way back’

‘Then let’s go down my route’, Tay suggest, pulling out his cigarette and offering it to New who looked down at it like some kind of odd specimen.

‘I don’t smoke’

‘I can tell’, Tay responded, but he urged the lit cigarette to the young man anyway, ‘Breath it in and keep it in your mouth for a couple of seconds before you blow it out’, he told him what to do, watching as the Viscount took the cig from his hand, looking at him with the same innocent naivety that he showed last night, which Tay couldn’t help but adore – but he would never admit it out loud.

New resting the tip on his lips, breathing in before coughing a great deal, smoke coming out of his mouth and making Tay howl in laugher.

‘That’s gross’, the Viscount made a face, scrunched nose and furrowed brows as he shoved the cigarette back to Tay. He continued to cough, his lungs not used to the burning sensation that continued to linger, constricting him of air, forcing him to gasp a little.

‘At least your eyes look beautiful underneath the smoke’, Tay commented, walking over to where the door was, waiting for the Viscount to make himself look presentable, lifting his collar up to hide the hickeys he left behind all over him, ‘Come on Viscount Thitipoom. Let’s get you back home to your palace’

* * *

Arm decided to visited his eldest brother in his apartment after a long day of work which only consisted of keeping an eye out for Buggy Boy’s men on the outskirts of their turf, letting the machine gun rest on his leg as he acquired space in an abandoned building’s rooftop, overlooking the entirety of Camden.

‘Ol’ brother of mine!’, Arm shouted for Off, slamming the door shut behind him as he stormed into the living room, ‘How’s Buggy Boy’s son doing? Has he been causing Alice trouble?’

He entered the living room, expecting his brother to be lounging around, reading a book or daydreaming beside his window like he usually is, but instead, he sae the sofas moved against the wall, the floor occupied by a small mattress and a thin blanket.

‘What the fuck?’, he called out when he saw someone else laying down on it, using an old lamp to light the dark room, ‘Att?’, he recognised the man who laid stomach first, reading a small book mindlessly.

‘Arm?’, Atthaphan gasped as he closed his book shut, sitting up on the mattress, ‘What’re you doing here?’

‘That should be my question to you’, Arm pointed out, refusing to ask the question until the man explained himself. His brother was a hostile man, someone who valued his own isolation and detested the presence of another in his own home, so to see Chimon’s tutor making himself home in his brother’s apartment was alarming and jarring for the youngest brother, ‘Where is my brother?’

‘In his room’, Atthaphan answered the question, ‘He ordered me to live with him here whilst I’m tutoring Chimon’

‘Why?’, Arm asked with a raised brow, ‘Is he planning to make you his whore?’

‘No’, Atthaphan replied abruptly, ‘Why does everyone keep saying that?’

‘You jerked him off in his office’, Arm chuckled, leaning on the wall and watching his eyes widen round, ‘I mean, he might’ve been interested given how good you were’

‘How did you know?’

‘Brothers don’t keep secret’, Arm replied, and also, Tay called him just to laugh about what Mild mentioned to him in the morning.

‘That’s… I mean, I’m not… We only did it one time’

‘I guess once was enough to keep my brother intrigued’, Arm continued to joke whilst he waited for his brother to come out of his room, knowing he probably already heard his loud ass entering his apartment.

‘Arm Weerayut’, he finally heard Off calling out his name, opening his room door and leaning on the doorframe, ‘What’re you doing here?’

‘Alice was mad at you this morning’, Arm called out, turning back to the hallway to face his brother, ‘She said you don’t trust her’

‘She’s overreacting’, Off replied, looking down at his watch and checking the time, knowing that it was getting late – a little too late for Arm to visit him. Alice must’ve asked him to check up on him and watch over Att and he didn’t know whether to be amused or pissed at his best friend.

‘I didn’t know you took Chimon’s tutor for yourself’, Arm smirked, knowing that man could hear their conversation, ‘That’s probably why Alice hates you right now’

‘Look, I know you do whatever she says, but can you at least side with your brother and not give me the cold shoulder whenever she and I have a spat?’, Off asked, ‘What Alice and I argue about is none of your business’

‘If it has anything to do about the Slashers, then it’s also my business’, Arm reminded him, ‘You may be in control now, but in the two years you were gone, I was second in command’

‘And do you want to keep being second in command?’, Off asked, ‘Because I can ask Tay to give his position up for you’

‘All I’m saying is you shouldn’t be throwing mine or Alice’s opinion in the garbage especially since we’ve kept this business afloat during the middle of the fucking war’

‘This is Chimon’s tutor’, Off rolled his eyes, his patience thinning with the reassurance of the same topic all through out the fucking day, ‘Not Chimon himself, so I don’t think our business is going to be compromised because I decided to keep an eye on someone who has yet to prove loyalty to us’

‘If you lose loyalty to the ones most important to you, then you’re compromising the business’

‘Alice is no longer a Slasher’, Off reminded his brother, staying put beside his door and staring at Arm with intent. From one brother to another, he wanted Arm to stray from the fantasy he’d been spinning in his mind, something that would surely bite him in the ass later on, ‘And your brute force won’t persuade her to come back’

‘She’ll help you no matter what, so she’ll always be a Slasher’, Arm growled back, and Off knew there was a hint of jealousy inside his tone of voice and he couldn’t begin to comfort his brother. There was no way to calm a storm in one’s mind, especially if they’re the ones creating it themselves, so he shrugged his shoulders, taking a step back inside his room and slamming the door short, cutting their conversation short and leaving Arm alone.

‘I don’t even know why I came here’, Arm spat out, kicking his brother’s door and heading back to the hallway, ‘Like my brother would ever be interested in my fucking day’

Atthaphan heard Arm’s sneers before he slammed the door shut, leaving the apartment with an intense silence that could cut and the young detective couldn’t bear to cross out Arm’s name off his notes just yet despite the other’s retaliation to his assumptions.

Arm was a time bomb waiting to explode and who knows if he already had?

The young detective kept himself hidden in the lion’s den as he took out his notebook, messy handwriting scrawled all over the paper, information about Mild and her gang along with her connection with Off and its significance with cleaning up after the Hand Stealer. Off liked being in the dark, and sometimes, to stay hidden, one must cause a diversion – a ruckus so to speak – one which will have the police occupied in the next couple of months, giving him enough time to play around.

‘What have you got under your sleeves?’, Atthaphan whispered to himself, closing his notebook and hiding it on the bottom of his bag as he looked around the living. He knew Off would be smart enough not to leave evidence laying around in the most obvious places, but he had to make sure, opening ever drawer, lifting every vase and pot to see if there was a hidden note or a carved passcode of some sort. But, of course, Off was just as smart as he was starting to think and his living room was crispy clean of anything suspicious.

Atthaphan had no idea what he was going to say to Inspector Craine, but he hoped his superior has faith in him to keep an eye on Off Jumpol despite his initial warning, because his suspicion was still clear as day and Arm wasn’t helping himself with his rash behaviour and violent streaks.

He had to tick the box before it gets to big.

* * *

Tay saw his little brother at the bar as soon as he dropped off the young Viscount, raising his brow when he watched him open a drawer of his best whisky, pouring it down his glass and drinking it in one go as he watched the performers prepare for the night.

‘You good?’, he asked his youngest, resting his hand on Arm’s back, joining him behind the counter, ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I hope Off gets shot in the head’, Arm slurred a little, finding the alcohol swimming in his system already, making Tay laugh as he watched his deranged brother talk shit about their eldest.

‘Don’t be too mad at him’, Tay chuckled, grabbing the bottle of whisky from Arm’s hand and pouring himself a glass too, ‘He’s just stress lately’

‘If he gave us more work then maybe he wouldn’t be’, Arm complained, ‘But here we are, waiting till he finished his little adventure with the orphan tutor’

‘Oh, did he drag him to live with him?’, Tay asked after being informed by some of the Slashers whilst he was walking to his bar. He was disappointed that he was the last to know, but all the more amused that his brother was finally getting some after months of celibacy under stress and work, ‘Aren’t you glad that he found his stress reliever?’

‘Stress reliever my ass’, Arm snorted, ‘That orphan’s going to be the reason why Off will kill again’

‘Oh, don’t be like that brother’, Tay shook his shoulders, drinking his whisky as he watched their loyal costumers walking in right on time, ‘He likes a bit of a challenge and I’m sure that orphan tutor’s gonna give it to him. We’ll have all the spare time in the world now’

‘Spare time to do what?’, Arm growled, laying his head on the sticky counter and seeing his brother sideways, his head already spinning after drinking all day, ‘I wanna work’

‘Well, if you’re that dense, why don’t you use this free time to spend with Alice and maybe ask her out?’, Tay suggested, a smirk playing on his lips when his brother sat up straight, a hint of surprised excitement in his eyes, ‘Off’s been talking to Alice and he’s been persuading her to accept your proposal if you ever man up and ask it’

‘Are you fucking serious?’

‘Do you think I’ll be lying to my dear brother?’, Tay chuckled, stealing his drink and finishing it too. Tay, unlike his older brother, had a soft spot for Arm, the young baby who always relied on him for help. He hated the feeling of being babied, especially by his brother and Alice, so when he had the chance to be someone else’s mentor, he took it, spreading his wings to hide Arm from the burning hot sun. Which was probably why the youngest was the most spoilt, because Tay didn’t want him to feel the labour of being an orphan.

‘Is Off going to give his blessings?’, Arm asked, his voice raised and his hand gripping his brother’s wrist, almost desperate for the answer.

‘Yes’, Tay smiled back, flicking his forehead playfully like how they used to when they were children, ‘So don’t hate our brother too much. He means well’

‘Who the fuck cares!’, Arm shouted when he gained the answer he’d been waiting for, picking up his tall brother and spinning him around like a madman before dropping him, combing his hair back as he bit his lip and shouted at the top of his lungs. He howled like a wolf, cheering in his own way as he grabbed his jacket, winking at his brother before departing away from the bar, probably off to steal a ring that was perfect for Alice.

Tay Tawan laughed, watching his youngest brother race up the stairs, leaning on his counter as he remembered the conversation he shared with Off. His brother was in fact little in emotion and barely human, but when it came to Arm, he still showed some signs of morality to grant him his wish and he sighed in relief when Off admitted he had been trying to persuade Alice to succumb to Arm’s notion of marriage even though it would mean she would have to welcome herself back to the Slashers.

The only thing next on the list was his own happiness, but Tay thought maybe that was on its way too, so he didn’t need to worry anymore, pouring himself a drink and raising it to the ceiling above him before screaming for his performers to play strings of celebration, soft jazz voice of lyrical madness before he poured the rest of the whisky down his throat.

* * *

It was the dead of night when Atthaphan managed to sneak out of Off’s apartment, tiptoeing pass creaking floorboards, slight hands opening and closing the door ever so slightly. Inspector Craine had been expecting him an hour ago, but the eyes of the suspicious didn’t sleep until late and the young detective wanted to make sure that Off was in slumber by the time he left, his door shut tight and away from him.

‘Sir, I only have a moment to give to you’, Atthaphan gasped as soon as he raced to the shadows under the bridge where his superior was waiting, leaning on the damp bricked wall with a cigar resting on his lips, ‘I‘ve been caught up with something’

‘Oh, I know exactly where you’ve been caught up’, Inspector Craine glared at him, biting down on the end of cigar being pulling it out and flicking it to Atthaphan who took a step back to avoid the ashes, ‘The police from Elephant and Castle spotted you tied and dragged into an old warehouse. You blew your cover didn’t you?’

‘No, no of course not!’, Atthaphan shouted at his superior, ‘I mean, I nearly did, but I spoke my way out. You know how I am’, it was slightly arrogant for him to show off when he barely survived today, but he was not going to give his superior any seedling of doubt just in case he got pulled out of the case.

‘Atthaphan, this isn’t one of your adventures’, the inspector groaned, looking down at his well shined shoe which was now stained at the bottom once he arrived in this part of the city, his eyes low and dark, his wrinkled formed by the mouth, shaping his lips in a permanent frown, ‘We’ve had more victims found in the Thames. The killer will not stop until we stop them’

‘I assure you, I’ve already found a suspect’, Atthaphan informed his superior, taking out his notes which he had brought with him, ‘Off may not be the killer, but I suspect he’s helping him out bury his own mischiefs’

‘Oh? So the Slashers do know a thing or two?’, Inspector Craine raised a shock brow at his detective’s finding, ‘And what leads do you have?’

‘No leads yet, but if you give me time, I’ll give you some solid evidence’

On such a pressing matter, Inspector Craine would’ve hit his detective with the book in utter frustration, but his whole team was already working over time, so even if Atthaphan was wrong, he had a safety net to fall back on with his other team members, so he allowed Atthaphan to play around for a few more weeks. He had an itch on his back that he couldn’t reach and it seemed like the only way to scratch it is to keep an eye on the Slasher’s and the only one with enough arrogance to survive under Off’s presence was his rogue detective. So he closed the book, handing it back to Atthaphan with slit eyes, focusing his uncertain eyes on him.

‘Who’s this suspect you’re going to be keeping an eye on?’, he asked curiously.

‘Arm Weerayut’, Atthaphan whispered, to which his superior bellowed a wrenching laugh, his throat choked with phlegm to which he spat out the green mucus into the flowing river beside them.

‘You’re going to be keeping an eye on the brother?’, he asked, wondering if Atthaphan was joking, but when the detective nodded with a stern expression, he sighed and laid a hand on his shoulder, ‘Keep watch of yourself. Arm is not just a violent motherfucker. He’s the muscle out of the brothers. He will kill you once he finds a reason to’

‘He’s siding with me at the moment’, Atthaphan whispered, ‘As far as he knows, I’m only just a tutor’

‘Then keep it up’, Inspector Craine nodded, pulling out his hand and dipping it inside his pocket where he tugged another cigar, lighting it up with a matchstick before throwing it into the river, ‘Don’t die and report back to me next week. I’m getting sick and tired of inspecting dead bodies everyday’

‘Yes sir’

* * *

Off woke up early, the sun barely peaking through the skyline, hidden by the factory smokes, but he had stopped getting good sleep for a long time. His eyes were swollen in, swarm in dark under eye bags and sunken cheeks from his lack of a daily diet. But that didn’t stop him from moving, throwing his sheets off the bed as he sat up, rubbing his eyes and combing back his hair.

Sometimes he could still feel the dust inside his lungs from when he was in the tunnels in France. His muscles continued to ache as they continue to dig, moving injured soldiers from one trench to the other, as well as messages and secret strategy plans. He never forgot the smell of dirt and blood, bitter and sour to the mouth.

He was glad he had forged his youngest brother’s documents, deeming him unfit to join the army. Arm was already a screw too few and he knew the blasted war was going to be the tipping point to his growing unrest and twitching hands. He never thought his brother would be an ungrateful prick when he returned, but he supposed he didn’t need to entertain him as long as he’s paid well and had enough of a reason to continue working for the Slashers so his mind wouldn’t turn elsewhere, but Off had been slowly getting tired of keeping him under control. His growing enterprise needed his utmost attention and Arm wasn’t helping. He could only wish his best friend could take him off his hands, but Alice was fickle, changing her mind moment after moment, so he himself didn’t know what she truly wanted.

But enough about worrying, he needed to get ready for the day, so he mustered all his energy, unlocking his door and limping out towards the bathroom. He passed the living room, stopping in his tracks when he found the futon laid out in the middle of the room with the young tutor sleeping soundlessly, covered only in a thin blanket.

He sighed, walking pass the sleeping man and opened the bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror. He had recalled his conversation with Mild, keeping her words at close value, not because he cared for her, but she had good judgement of character. That’s why all of her girls are loyal to her. She knew how to pick good ones. But then again, her notions of ideas weren’t close to value as him own and his own mind had been telling him that something didn’t feel right.

Now everything was piling up on top of one another, one problem after another, making him dip his head down on the sink, turning the tap on as he washed his face with cold water, letting the cold rush wake him up. His hands, calloused and aching, shivered from the cold when he washed his hands and took a damp cloth to wipe his neck and chest.

‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were there’, he heard a voice coming from the halls, making him turn around to spot Chimon’s tutor rubbing his eyes as he walked into the bathroom, taking a step back when he saw Off standing by the sink.

‘My house’, Off stated, ‘Expect me to be here’

‘Alright, I’m sorry’, Att nodded his head, yawning as he leaned on the doorframe.

‘What’re you doing?’

‘Waiting for you to finish so I can wash my face’, the man replied, ‘I have to go over to Alice to tutor soon’

‘Mind giving me some privacy?’

‘You’re nearly finished, aren’t you?’, the young man replied. Off couldn’t believe how brazen he was despite his threat not to anger him anymore, but it was like his words didn’t even make a dent of fear in him. Just how could an orphan feel so nonchalant towards him even after his many warnings? It didn’t make sense. Even strangers quivered when he walked past them.

‘Make sure you keep an eye on Chimon if you’re going to be walking him around town. I don’t wanna have another repeat of that day’, Off warned him, throwing the damp cloth into the sink and walking past Att, the pair brushing shoulders before they went on with their day. Just because Att lives with him now did not mean he had to speak to the young man, so Off finished dressing, shouting Att to get a move on and leave before him so he can lock up.

‘Can’t you give me a spare key?’, Att asked when he heard Off slam the door shut.

‘You’re insane’, Off chuckled as he walked pass Att, not even batting an eye at him, ‘You’re only allowed in and out when I’m around’

‘So I have to wait for you to finish your day so I can get some sleep?’, Att asked with a whining tone, like a child about to have a tantrum, but Off didn’t care. He simply nodded and walked down the stairs of the apartment, passing by the other residents in their stained factor clothes, working down with a small bag of packed food and a capped hat, small children following their father to go to work with them whilst mother stayed inside the house, keeping their small home clean.

‘If you must know, Chimon’s memorised the alphabet already’, Att spoked as soon as they reached the streets, watching as Ofd began to walk in the opposite direction.

‘I don’t care’, the man shouted at him, his back facing Att as he made his way to his office, leaving Att to walk to Alice’s apartment.

‘For a man who’s paranoid, he doesn’t seem to care a whole lot’, Atthaphan whispered to himself, buttoning his jacket and turning to walk in the opposite direction, letting the cold winds brush his air.

* * *

‘How’s your injuries?’, Alice asked as she grabbed her bag, preparing to go to work whilst Chimon greeted him brightly, holding his notebooks on his arm as he made his way to the small living.

‘It’s okay’, Att nodded, looking down at his grazed leg which was cared for by the woman herself, ‘I’m sure if I keep my oath shut, Off won’t taunt me any longer’

‘You should wish for that’, Alice pointed out, giving him a comforting smile, ‘I’ll try and keep him in the reins’

‘You must be really close to him if you’re able to tell him what to do’

‘Well, sometimes the people who suffered with you are the ones you trust the most’, Alice nodded, ‘It’s not a surprise that he still values at least some of my opinions’

‘So, have you always been close towards him?’

‘Yeah’, Alice decided to entertain Att’s growing questions, not seeing the suspicion behind his curiosity, ‘I supposed we both lost our childlike innocence together, so it’ll be hard to sever ties with him’

‘How about his brothers? You don’t seem that close with them’, Att knew that was a lie, especially when he ears the other Slashers in Tay’s bar gossiping about Arm’s infatuation over her, but he wanted to gain a reaction, and her small smile and shaking head was enough to give him an answer. Alice knew the brothers all too well.

‘Tay’s the only good one’, she pointed out, ‘So if you’re ever in trouble, make sure to seek him out. He’s the only one left with some form of decency’

‘And Arm?’, Att asked.

‘Arm?’, Alice repeated his name, and although there was sentiment behind her eyes, there was something else hidden behind her eyes, ‘When he hates he hates, but when he loves… Well, it’s like he’s a child. He becomes good and trusting. I supposed its his weakness’

‘How is that a weakness? That makes him sound more human than all the other rumours I’ve heard about him’, Att called out, making Alice laugh a little.

‘Those rumours aren’t rumours’, she warned him, ‘He did all the things, but sometimes even monsters can have a heart. Doesn’t make them any better as a person, but it does mean they’re still saveable’

‘So, you admit?’, Att asked, ‘Arm’s a monster’

Alice knew what he was implying and her smile faded. She tilted her head and stared at the tutor who was still talking to her and she realised Chimon was listening silently at them and she wondered if the young boy also thought that about Arm.

‘I need to go to work’, Alice announced to them as she took her keys, ‘Keep an eye on Chimon. Don’t make trouble, okay?’

She left the two alone and Chimon breathed a sigh of relief when Alice had left, turning back to smile at his tutor.

‘She’s been worried about you all night’, Chimon said to him as he opened his book, blotched ink of messy handwriting repeating the same letters till it reached the end of the page, ‘She told me not to keep asking you to go out of town with me’

‘Well, whenever we do go out, trouble seems to follow. So, I can’t blame her’, Att sighed, opening the stained textbooks that Alice provided for him. He reached the third chapter, which was grammar and consonance, reading through the printed text. There were doodles all over the used textbook, drawings of smiley faces and caricatures of characters. They were all well done, despite simple, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

A small doodle of a man with devils horns made him laugh particularly and he squinted his eyes trying to read the name written on the top of its head.

_Jumpol._

A woman with a halo was next to the drawing, the name _Alice_ written next to it. He flipped onto the next page out of curiosity, seeing more drawings of the same characters all over the next pages. Chimon followed his gaze and smiled when his tutor also noticed the doodles.

‘Mr Arm’s rather good, isn’t he?’, Chimon pointed out, surprising Att as he looked back up at him.

‘These are Arm’s drawings?’

‘Who else would it be? These are his books’, Chimon informed him. He grabbing the book out of his arms, closing it, ‘Watch this’, he pointed out to his tutor, flipping the pages really fast. Att looked down and saw a small stick figure moving from one end of the page to the other, holding a small heart on its stick fingers. Everything went by fast, but he saw the small figure reach the other end where a stick girl was waiting with a smile on her face, handing her the heart until it reached the end, the two figures standing close to each other.

_Even the monster has a heart._

‘I didn’t know someone like Arm would have emotion like this’, Chimon laughed, brave enough to do so when Arm wasn’t around.

‘You should focus on your studies’, Att told him off, grabbing the book again and opening it on the third chapter, ‘Now, why don’t we start with writing sentences. I’m sure you can do simple ones’

* * *

Tay and his brother finally reunited back in his office, Off sitting on his chair by his desk as he watched Tay laugh at him, his hands in his pockets.

‘Is this where he jerked you off?’, Tay asked. He couldn’t wait to start making fun out of his older brother, ‘God, I didn’t know you liked those types’

‘And what type would that be?’, Off rolled his eyes, closing his files and putting it in his drawers.

‘The cute ones’, Tay winked at him, rushing towards his brother and sitting on his desk, ‘Tell me, you enjoyed it right?’

‘You’re disgusting to ask me that’, Off sighed, glaring at his brother, ‘I only did it to check his loyalty. If I hadn’t done it, our brother Arm would’ve been accused for being the Hand Cutter’

‘Hand Cutter?’, Tay snorted, ‘Is that the name the police gave them. It sounds a little to close to Cuff Slashers, don’t you think?’

‘Which is why I don’t want anyone suspecting any one of us’, Off stood up, buttoning his waistcoat as he grabbed his jacket and turned to face Tay, ‘The young man may have been a fool, but one visit to the police station is enough for them to come knocking at our door. You know how they are, they don’t even need evidence anymore. They just need a reason to get rid of us’

Tay nodded. His brother had a point so he didn’t make fun of his paranoia, but when they were close to sealing a deal with Gunsmile for their fair share of his dog track. Adding racing to their enterprise would widen their business.

‘Do you even know who the killer is?’, Tay asked as he followed his brother behind, the pair heading out of his office, ‘Why are they persistent in killing random victims?’

‘They may be random to us, but a killer like this looks like they have a plan’, Off pointed out, ‘I wouldn’t underestimate a psychopath’

‘What links a butcher with an Earl’s daughter?’, Tay snorted, ‘I say the person is just a blood killer with an itch and now we’re getting the blame’

‘I don’t care. All I know is, the police should hurry up and catch them. I’m getting sick and tired of it too’

‘Well, any more killings and the police will have all the reason to investigate us’, Tay nodded, ‘But I’m sure it won’t get that far. Not if we side with one of them’

‘Viscount Thitipoom?’, Off chuckled, turning to stare at his brother who had a smug look on his face, ‘How’s that going by the way?’

‘You know how it goes. Sheltered rich boy curious of the street dog’, Tay replied as Off opened the door out of their office, smelling the bitter smoke from the factories, ‘I haven’t met with him again, but I’m sure he’ll be looking for him’

‘Don’t make him fall in love with you too much’, Off warned him, ‘We don’t wanna create an enemy soon’

‘Don’t worry’, Tay shook his head in amusement, ‘He’s set to marry another noble. He just sees me as a curiosity. But I’m sure I can persuade him in a partnership. He’ll be doing business in London from now on and he’ll be needing protection, especially if he wants to start a family’

‘Good’, Off smiled at his brother, patting his shoulder. He always knew Tay was competent, more so than all his other workers, ‘Now, let’s try and get through Gunsmile one more time. I’m sure the man would soften up by our second visit’

‘How do you know?’, Tay groaned when they walked to their car, opening the door and whining, ‘He’s a bastard with no business bone in his body. He’s just going to taint us again. Why’re you dead set in making a fool of us again?’

‘Gunsmile grew up around this area too’, Off reminded him as he started the car, hearing the loud roaring of the engines as he passed the carriages and horses by the street, ‘And if I don’t know anyone here, I’ll know their acquaintances at the very least’

Tay shook his head, not trusting his brother as he put on his top hat, covering his hair from the dust. He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it up and throwing the matchstick to the ground, wondering what his brother had under his sleeves. Despite being his second hand man, Tay was never informed of Off’s plans until the day it’s supposed to be executed, and despite his silence, it was the one trait he detested from his brother, calling family meetings of enraged arguments to which he still could never get through his brother, so he eventually gave up and let him do whatever he wanted.

* * *

It seemed like his meeting with Mild the other day wasn’t useless, Off parking the car in front of Gunsmile’s wine cellar. He grabbed his cane, resting his weight on it as he waited for his brother to stand beside him before he made his way to the front gates where Gunsmile’s men were waiting for them.

Off looked down on his watch, looking at the time as he straightened his shirt, tapping his cane as he looked at Gunsmile’s men.

‘Gentlemen’, he greeted them with a nod, waiting for them to open the gates and guide them to the underground office, but when they didn’t move, Tay became impatient, tapping his foot and crossing his arms,

‘What are you waiting for? Let us in’, Tay commanded them, but stayed rooted on their spot, Their eyes steering past them as if they’d just become air, unnoticeable. It made Tay’s blood boil at such a treatment, ready to throw a punch despite being the calmer of the two brothers.

But why was Off not reacting the same way? And why did he look calm and collected?

‘Fine, if Gunsmile doesn’t wanna see us, then I guess it’s a no deal’, Off sighed, although Tay knew from the nuance of his brother’s voice that his disappointment sounded fake, almost sarcastic.

‘Hey bastard’, a sweet voice called out to them, Tay swiftly turning his head to spot Mild walking from the end of the road, waving her hand ecstatically as she made her way towards them.

‘What is _she_ doing here?’, Tay asked with suspicion. Despite Off and Mild’s constant partnership, the two never did get along, especially when Mild stole his girlfriend once three years ago without so much as an apology.

‘Calm down. She’s here with a treat’, Off whispered to his brother, resting his hand on Tay’s shoulders.

‘What treat?’

‘Jennie’s gladly given her time for a spot of lunch’, she called out, winking at Tay as she tiptoed to kiss him on the cheeks, only for the former to push her back. That was when he noticed someone else walking beside her, a taller woman with long dark hair. Tay had never seen her before, but he guessed she was one of Mild’s new recruits, so he raised his brow and turned to look at Off as if to ask why they were here.

‘Come on, I know a great place just down the road’, Off replied, lifting his cane and pointing the tip to the other side of the road, ‘We can take our car and-’

‘Jennie?’

The beautiful woman, who hadn’t even spoken a word yet, was called out from a shadow behind the wine cellar door, slamming open so the sunlight can reveal the owner of the dog racing track, Gunsmile looking out towards them with round shocked eyes and parted lips.

‘Do they know each other?’, Tay asked his brother but he didn’t reply. In a sense, he didn’t need to when Jennie shared the same exact shocked expression as Gunsmile as she turned to stare at Mild.

‘I promised you I’d find him’, Mild winked at her as she playfully shoved Jennie towards the direction of the gates.

‘Let me guess, long lost lovers’, Tay pointed out.

‘Not quite’, his brother finally spoke to him, readjusting his gloves as he leaned on his cane, knowing Gunsmile was watching amusingly behind the shadows, but what he didn’t expect was that Off had found his dear old friend he’d been missing for decades.

‘How did you know Jennie was looking for Gunsmile?’, Mild asked him curiously, the three watching as Jennie slowly walked over, followed by Gunsmile who was overwhelmed at the sight of his childhood friend, making a run for it and dropping his cigarette on the floor as he picked her up off her feet, tightening her into an embrace and spinning her around.

‘I didn’t’, Off replied, ‘I coincidentally found out one of your women was aquatinted with Gunsmile so I thought I might use their sentiment as leverage’

‘Do you always do that?’, Mild rolled her eyes, annoyed that Off ruined a touching moment.

‘What?’

‘Use everyone as leverage’

‘You should know by now darling’, Off winked at him as he walked pass the guards who showed no movements, heading towards Gunsmile and Jennie to talk about their deal.

Tay and Mild stayed standing at the front gates for a few minutes, sighing as they watched Off with his expressionless face start talking, his tall figure almost looked like the grim reaper, his cane mimicking a scythe.

‘One day, we need to stop him before he stands too close off the cliff’, Mild whispered to Tay, straightening her dress and watching the view unfold.

* * *

‘We’re not going out today’, Atthaphan told Chimon once they finished their lessons, the afternoon drawing to a close, ‘I don’t think I wanna get into any more trouble’

‘It’s okay, I understand’, Chimon nodded, but he was still disappointed, Atthaphan could tell. He felt slightly sorry for the prisoned boy, but not enough to blow his cover, so after making a cup of tea and spending a couple more minutes talking to the boy, he made his way out of Alice’s apartment and back towards the market where he might be able to find Slashers littering the streets. If he knew anyone who could give him information about Arm, then it’s the men he controlled, and seeing as everyone already knew he was Chimon’s tutor, they had no choice but to trust him.

Or so he thought.

‘What’s the English professor doing here?’, a Slasher chuckled when he saw Gun walk into the bar beside the market, much different from Tay’s, more messy, the ground sticky from the dropped ale and the tables stained and greasy. It looked like a pig’s tent and the smell was horrendous beyond belief.

‘I had a few spare hours to kill before heading home’, Atthaphan replied, ‘Mind if I join you?’

‘Join us?’, the snorted, looking at each other, ‘Why would we let you join us?’

‘I’m one of you, aren’t I?’

‘You may be hired by Alice, but you sure aren’t no Slasher’, another pointed out with his hoarse voice and slurred sentence, ‘Now scram before we beat your head in’

‘Enough!’, the banter was immediately stopped by a loud booming voice coming from the counter, the whole group turning around to watch Arm heading towards them. Just with the mere sight of him alone, the bar went silent, as if everyone’s lips had been ripped off their own face, their eyes lowering to their drinks, ‘Let him sit here’, he told his men, nodding his chin to Atthaphan, giving him permission to sit down, ‘The drinks are on me’, he added on before walking pass and sitting to the table beside him.

‘Thanks’, Atthaphan turned to face Arm, leaning on the chair.

‘No problem. Anyone who works for Alice works for me’, he raised his voice during the last bit, making it known to the whole bar that they should treat Atthaphan with respect.

‘Sorry for causing everyone trouble for the past couple of days’, Atthaphan attempted to keep their conversation going, looking at his table to see a pint of beer already presented to him. He took a swing, letting the bitter taste rush down his throat before he turned to face the youngest Adulkittiporn.

‘You’re not the only causing trouble, so you’re alright’, Arm pointed out, although, he did find it ludicrous that an innocent looking country orphan had already got his brother foaming at the mouth, but he stopped caring what Off’s feeling for a long time. He only cared for Alice who’d been stressed because of his god awful brother.

‘I promise I won’t be an inconvenience anymore’

‘Don’t promise me’, Arm pointed out, standing up as he finished his drink. He stopped to stare down at him, ‘Promise your employer’, he abandoned Atthaphan, not in the mood for a conversation with a random stranger.

The young detective bit his lip, wondering how he would garner Arm’s attention for more than five seconds, combing his hair back and looking down at his hand empty pint. Everyone had ignored him, probably too scared to interact with him, so he retired, leaving the bar with a defeated look, leaving the bar and walking into the darkened streets of Camden.

He didn’t even know where Off was or when he was coming back, so for all he knew, he’d have to spend the rest of his evening and possibly night going from bar to bar, waiting for Off to return from his mysterious ventures. He’d done years worth of investigation and spying, but this one had got to be the most frustrating. He’d never been stuck for this long without finding a lead and it was chipping at his pride. He’d never lost a case and he didn’t intend this one to be his first, not when a murderous psychopath was on a rampage. His superior’s patience was also thinning and he didn’t wanna lose anymore faith and her reassigned to a boring case. He had so many things floating in his mind, he didn’t notice the dancing shadows following behind as the streets darkened, the street lamps shining on tapping shoes and round white eyes who had managed to sneak pass the Slashers who had already ended their day in the bar.

‘Is that the one?’, a voice whispered.

‘Yes, sir’

‘Ah, well then, what’s he doing unguarded?’

‘He’s still in Camden. He thinks he’s safe’

‘Safe huh?’, the croaky voice laugh, leaving behind an echo of bourse howls which passes by the wind, ‘Go get him and bring him over to my office. I want my fucking son back’

‘Yes sir’


	7. 07

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Warning:** kidnapping and torture

Off and Tay went back to the bar to find arm already waiting for them, drinking Tay’s whisky as he listened to the performers on stage.

‘What took you guys so long?’, Arm asked with a smirk when Tay winked at him, the two brothers shaking hands when Tay made his way behind the counter, ‘Did he agree to the deal’

‘Uh huh’, Tay nodded with pride, even though it wasn’t his plan that got the young track owner to agree with them, but he wallowed in it anyway – as the saying goes – his brother’s success was his success and vice verse.

‘Have you heard what’s happening in America?’, Off heard the whispers of his fellow men talking beside the table next to them. He tightened his glove, tapping his glass to beckon Tay to pour him a glass of his best one, leaning back and valuing the peace of the night after a tough deal gone right. He deserved not to worry for at least an hour.

‘They gettin’ rid of the good stuff’, the Slashers amongst themselves, laughing and fussing, ‘Them drys poured all the alcohol out into the sewers’

‘I bet them rats are drunk as fuck right now’

‘Who gives a shit about them rats. I can’t go a day without a pint and you’re telling me America’s gone and get rid of their good stuff? Fucking idiots!’

‘Ah, the Prohibition’, Arm listened in on his men, laughing with them as he gulped his drink down, ‘I heard people be losing business cos of that. No more wine transport export to America’

‘Mhhm’, Off nodded, grabbing a match stick and lighting up his cigar, letting the smoke fill the air of the bar with bitterness, ‘It’s not about the wine anymore’, Off pointed out to his brother, a smirk playing on his face when he passed Gunsmile’s wine cellar to find boxes of gin being made on a daily – a little side job the young boss had – something that Off had kept an eye on, ‘Those Americans have a thing for gin these days’

‘And?’, Arm scoffed, ‘As if they’re ever going to taste it’

‘Not without our help’, Off smiled, blowing out the grey smokes from his lungs, ‘I’ve spoken with Mild, she said she can help us smuggle Gunsmile’s good from Canary Wharf’

‘What, what do you mean?’, Arm asked, sitting up from his chair and turning to stare at his older brother, ‘I thought you just wanted some shares for his dog race track’

‘We did’, Tay answered on his behalf, ‘But we also offered our service of business. Off and I know a handful of Americans during the war. We’ve made deals with them to smuggle alcohol into the country, once we partner up, the slashers, beasty and forty elephants each take an equal share’

‘Your comrades are bootlegging now?’, Arm scoffed, ‘So much for patriotic veterans’

‘You can save up a house in Kensington with the money’, Off told him, tapping the end of his cigar and letting the ashes fall on the metal tray in the middle of their table, ‘A big one that might fit a few children in there too’

‘What do you mean?’

‘What? You’re getting married and not have children?’, Off smiled, laughing at Arm as he reached his gloved hand and patted his cheeks, ‘I’m sure you and Alice will make… Not so ugly babies’

‘Don’t give him too much hope’, Tay joked, laughing when he saw his little brother’s cheeks turn bright red, ‘Alice’s genes are gonna be mixed with his ugly ass. I pray the baby won’t look to ugly’

‘Shut up’, Arm punched him on the leg, but he didn’t look angry – not the way he usually was – in fact, there was a hint of genuine excitement hidden in his eyes that made Off smile. He may not get along with his brother most of the time, but he was glad the same childlike happiness was still in him. The three brothers sat around the round table, smoking and drinking as they spent the end of their day relaxing after a tired day of work.

‘Where’s your little tutor by the way?’, Tay winked at Off, joking when he alcohol in his system gave him the courage to poke fun at his usually stern brother.

‘I don’t know, but he should be here by now. He has to come home with me’

‘You didn’t give him keys?’, Arm snorted, finishing his whisky as he laid his cheek on the table, ‘He must’ve been waiting out on the streets for hours now’

‘How so?’

‘He came to Russel’s pub around evening, telling me he was finished with work’

‘Is he still there?’

‘Nah’, Arm shook his head, ‘He left almost three hours ago’

‘If he did, then he should’ve been here waiting for me’, Off pointed out suspiciously, looking around but he knew the young man wouldn’t be here, otherwise he’d have made his presence known already with his loud mouth and obnoxious responses to his questions.

‘You’re wondering where he went, aren’t you?’, Tay giggled, pointing a finger at him to which Off squatted away.

‘Of course, I am. Might I remind you all that he’s accused Arm of being a murderer’

‘He is though’, Tay snorted.

‘I will not let Arm hang over false accusations and if he’s missing, he might he frolicking around trying to make up some evidence that might pin him with the Cutter’

‘They need to give that up. He’s not the only person who thought it was me’, Arm sighed as he tipped his glass upside down, watching the remaining alcohol drip down into the table, ‘They’ve got nothing on me, cos I didn’t do it’

‘It’s disrespectful for them to think that we would kill anyone and leave the biggest evidence floating in the Thames. They should expect more class from us’, Tay nodded, agreeing with Arm as he rested his chin on the table, laughing at nothing.

The only brother who didn’t finally it humorous was Off, tugging at his sleeves to show his watch, checking for the time and wondering where the young man had gone off too.

‘Mild’s still around Camden right?’, Off asked Tay as he stood up, wiping his trousers from the grease of the chair.

‘I think so. Why?’

* * *

Atthaphan couldn’t breathe. He also couldn’t see, a potato sack on his head, tied around by a string as he was dragged and beaten, forced to sit somewhere. His head was aching, his vision blurred from the lack of oxygen. He tried to gasp, small pockets of air coming from the small holes of the sack, but it still wasn’t enough. He wasn’t strong enough to fight off the hands that were tightly wrapping a rope around his, tying his legs onto the chair.

‘Off, for the love of God, I’m telling you I didn’t do anything! I don’t work for Buggy Boy and I promised I’m not going to pry on your business anymore. Can you let me go?’, he begged, using his remaining energy to speak to the person he concluded would have him kidnapped. It could only be Off’s plans to get some answers out of him and he was getting sick and tired of it.

‘He thinks you work for me? Ha! He thinks so highly of me. Why didn’t I think of that?’

Atthaphan froze when he heard a different voice from Off’s, his muscles turned into stone, his eyes quivering when he felt a strong grip, the sack being ripped off his face. Artificial light from the candle on the table blinking him for a moment, but once he gasped enough air in his lungs, he brought his face up, looking at the unknown faces glaring at him. Their teeth was as black as coal, sneering at him, their eyes yellow and face crinkled to form a permanent frown on their face.

‘Who the hell are you?’Atthaphan asked, ‘You’re no Slasher’

‘No’, the same voice answered him, but it didn’t come from the men standing beside him, ‘But I’m your pupil’s father and I think I have every rights to be acquainted with my precious son’s tutor’

‘Buggy Boy?’, Atthaphan whispered, turning his gaze to the end of the room where an old man stood, leaning on the wall by the door. His chest tightened at the sight of him, seeing his sneering look and arms with no hands. It was still wrapped around in bandages which looked like it’s never been changed, stained in old blood and mud.

‘So, Off thinks you work for me?’, Buggy smiled, multiple of his teeth missing, but it didn’t stop him from laughing, spitting out the phlegm which built down on the back of his throat, his mucus landing beside Atthaphan’s feet.

‘I… He doesn’t think so anymore’

‘For a God, he seemed a little to paranoid, as if one small tip and all his world will fall apart’

‘I…’

‘But then again, I’m just a man, so I don’t know how gods think’, Buggy continued to talk, refusing to let him speak as he limped his way over to face him, ‘But, I’m also a father in need of his son back. So…’, he tapped the end of his arm on his leg, beckoning one of his men to grab the candle, walking to stand beside him, ‘Now, tell me, where are they hiding my son?’

‘Can’t you just ask Off himself?’, Atthaphan replied, ‘Why do I have to get in the middle of it?’

He didn’t get a response, instead, Buggy Boy raised his brow and a pair of hands tugged at his hair, forcing him to lean back. The other man tipping the candle, letting the boiling wax drop onto his neck, making him screech from the the burning which touched his delicate skin.

‘Are you fucking insane?!’, Atthaphan yelled at him, his wrist burning from the rope as he tried to get out, but the men just pushed him back down on the chair, holding his arms in place and chaining him down.

‘Tell me where my fucking son is!’, Buggy Boy shouted, his spit landing on Atthaphan’s cheeks as he continued to scream, feeling another drop of wax landing on his skin and dripping down to his chest.

‘Even if I tell you, you can’t get to him!’, Atthaphan yelled, saliva dripping down his chin from the intense shaking, ‘He tightened his security after the stunt you pulled the other day!’

‘Ah yes’, Buggy nodded, standing straight and staring down at the short man, ‘I was told someone shot one of my men’, he sighed, ‘Someone short and innocent looking, with delicate and precise hands. Am I right to assume the man they’re talking about is you?’

‘No’, Atthaphan lied, but who was he kidding? It didn’t save him from the punches that was thrown straight to him stomach, squeezing his breath away as he felt each pain thrusting onto him.

‘You killed one of my men with those precious hands of yours’, Buggy sighed at the last part, looking down at his own arm which were missing his hands that were cut right off, ‘Are you Off’s new gun? Is that why he hired you? To kill anyone who ever comes near my son?’

‘I’m just a tutor’, Atthaphan whined, his throat burning from the wax, tensing when it began to dry.

‘A tutor who can kill one of my men!’, he shouted, lifting his feet up and kicking him on the stomach, making Gun spit blood from his mouth, letting it trickle down to his chin, ‘There’s no use in lying to me boy, you’re his gun, aren’t you? His brand new shiny weapon and I have the privilege to kill you’

‘I’m just a tutor’, he continued to whisper, his voice broken, but he in the back of his head, he thought maybe it was time to reveal his secret. Once these men find out they’re torturing a detective, they’d raise their hands up and release him, ‘I’m… I’m…’

Should Atthaphan give in and blow the whole case to save himself? Or should be keep bleeding in the name of duty? He was starting to rethink his life choices.

‘I’m with the metropolitan police’, he whispered, but there was no more energy in his voice and the crowd of men ignoring him, one of them pulling out a pocket knife and resting it on his throat.

‘Just do it Danny’, Buggy nodded at the man with wrinkled skin, ‘Kill him and toss him in the river. Maybe cut his hands off in the process, then they’ll think he’d just another one of his victims.

Atthaphan, without a care for his wrist, used his last energy to tug on the rope one more time, loosening it enough for his hands to slip through. With the control of his arms back, he motioned it upwards, punching the men’s faces, knocking them down and giving him enough time.

The young detective, with his feet still tied to the chair, grabbed the top and flipped, using the chair to punch the other men away from him.

‘Woah, Off’s new gun is pretty impressive’, Buggy Boy stepped back, leaning on the wall again as he shouted for his men tor in after him. Atthaphan counted three seconds – three seconds to free one of his foot from the chair – stretching out his leg and tripping over the one called Danny who falls to the ground, his hand letting go of his pocket knife close enough for Atthaphan to reach out.

Four seconds. He counted for seconds as he used the knife to cut the rope from his other leg, finally being freed from his restraints. It was as if freedom had given him an adrenaline rush with enough power to lift the chair once more, throwing it to the crowd of men running up towards him before he slid on the other side of the room, the knife still held in his hand as he was about to throw it. But he realised there were to many of them, even if he managed to kill one, the other six would just grab him and kill him afterwards. There was nowhere out.

‘Buggy! Buggy! Slashers! Slashers are here!’, someone from downstairs started yelling, their large foot stomping up the stairs as he banged the door open.

‘Then go kill them’, Buggy shouted.

Before the man can reply, he was snatched by the hair, pushing him the downstairs until the men heard a great loud thud.

‘There you are’, a soft voice followed the shadow. Atthaphan looked up to find Mild standing by the door, her dress slight folded, lifted so it won’t touch the ground whilst her hand was simply holding a butcher’s knife, ‘Off got worried about you. You know you shouldn’t run off like that’

‘As if’, Atthaphan yelled, but despite his anger, he was relieved, lowering his knife as Mild stepped foot into the room, glaring at Buggy Boy who used to threaten her and her girls for years. Off wanted to be the one to go and fetch him, but Mild insisted. She still had some business to do with Buggy.

‘You should listen to Off and stop hurting his men. You don’t know what he’s capable of’

‘I’d rather be dead than be his lapdog’, Buggy Boy spat at her, a look of disgust painted on his face, ‘isn’t that right Mild?’

‘I’m not his lapdog’, Mild replied calmly, juxtaposing her hand which gripped the butcher knife tightly, letting it lean on her dress, ‘I just know when to play nice sometimes’

‘This is none of your business, yet he still has you here doing his dirty work, like he usually does’, Buggy laughed, walking away as he hid behind his men, ‘Just admit it, you’re nothing without a man by your side. You whore’

‘Just because I didn’t wanna sleep with your old ass doesn’t mean I’m a whore’, Mild sighed, ‘Now, I can kill your men, or you can hand him over to me and we’ll leave it as that, okay?’

‘Off’s a devil’, Buggy Boy growled like a wolf meeting it’s rival, ‘He’ll be the death of you’

‘Unlike you, he’s actually smart’, Mild pointed out, ‘And I will not get on his bad side even if it’ll kill me. Att, come here and let’s go. I can assure you these boys won’t harm you anymore’

‘You shouldn’t be so sure of that’, Buggy hissed, but he didn’t stop Atthaphan who had slowly walked over to Mild’s side, hiding behind her back as they walked back to the hall. They were surrounded by Buggy Boy’s men, eyes glaring and hands resting on their knives and guns, but Mild pulled out a white handkerchief from her pocket, waving it in the air to beckon calling a temporary truce.

Atthaphan had been informed by his colleagues that it was the underground’s way of creating non violent deals, waving up a white flag in a certain locations which meant everyone must abide by the rules – no killing.

‘Are you alright?’, Mild asked as they walked out of the door, slamming shut behind him as Atthaphan finally allowed himself to weakened, nearly falling as Mild reached out to grab his waist.

‘There he is!’, Atthaphan heard someone shouting, but he didn’t know who. His eyes were too heavy to keep open, drawing to a close once he felt something warm wrap around him, a pair of arms picking him up on the floor and laying him to rest on something cold and hard.

* * *

‘So, do you believe now that he’s not working for Buggy Boy?’

‘It could’ve been a show’

‘Oh, shut up Tay, have you seen the state of him? What kinda show is that?’

‘Come on Alice, we can’t be too careful’

Atthaphan found himself stirring awake when he heard numerous voices arguing with each other in hushed tones, muffled yet still audible. He whined a little, wanting to move but the pain was stopping him. All he was able to do was open his eyes, looking down to find himself on a bed unfamiliar to him. Yet the scent was something he recognised, something sweet and bitter. He looked down on his hands which rested on his stomach, seeing it meticulously wrapped with bandages.

‘You should be dead’, he heard a voice, much clearer than the others, forcing him to turn to his side, making him groan. He saw Off sitting on the chair beside the bed, in his usual three piece suit, but his gloves were gone, his calloused hands resting on his cane.

‘Call it a Christmas miracle’, he joked, but his voice was still weak and filled with pain.

‘Don’t speak too much, that wax did quite a number on your throat. It won’t scar, but your skin it still tender’, Off explained to him.

_‘Do you think Buggy would kill his own just for show? Att’s innocent and we should start treating him so’_

‘I see Alice is still fighting for me’, Atthaphan kept talking despite Off’s warning, trying to laugh but all that came out was a strange groaning noise followed by coughing.

‘You looked pretty beat when we took you back’, Off exhaled, looking out of his window and seeing the sun slowly going down again. The young tutor had been passed out all day since they came to Peckham to rescue him, only waking when the following day drew to a close. Everyone was nervous, asking Alice how he was, but Off was the only one who didn’t care to ask, continuing with his work and meeting up with his clients for dinner. He only just arrived after he finished his business, opening his apartment to find the whole family inside and arguing, ‘You know, I guess I’ve got to thank you for dragging everyone back here. Before the war, we used to have family meetings, gave everyone a say in the business even if they’re not leading’

‘Why did it stop?’

‘The war’, Off replied, ‘I put Alice in charge and when I returned… Well, I had more ambitions and family meetings became a waste of time’

‘Is this your bedroom?’, Atthaphan asked him, changing the subject when he realised the reason why he felt the scent was familiar. It was Off’s scent.

‘Alice told me she would kill me if I let you rest on the floor, so I had no other choice’

‘So, where did you sleep?’

‘That shouldn’t be your main concern’, Off changed the subject, standing up when he continued to hear his brothers argue with Alice, ‘I should go and tell them you’re awake now. That’ll get them to shut up’

‘Thanks, by the way’, Atthaphan called out to him before he could open the door.

‘You should thank the girls instead of me. All I did was drive you here’

Despite their differences, they had a temporary truce between them, Off allowing the young tutor to rest on his bed whilst Atthaphan kept his mouth shut and stopped pestering him. It was a moment they didn’t think they were gonna have, let alone so soon after their argument.

‘Alice’, Off opened his bedroom door, pointing his chin, ‘Att’s awake’

‘Oh, thank god’, Alice sighed in relief, abandoning her argument with Tay and Arm as she raced her way to the room, smiling when she saw Att’s eyes opened.

‘So, what now?’, Arm asked his brother as he walked his way over to the living room, the three brothers inside his living room like how they used to be.

‘Let him rest and when he’s strong enough, he’ll continue to tutor Chimon’

‘You’re letting him stay?’, Tay asked, ‘Aren’t you still suspicious of him?’

‘Yeah I am, which is why I’m still keeping a close eye on him’, Off replied, leaning on his wall and pulling out a cigarette from his coat pocket, ‘We’ve established he doesn’t work for Buggy Boy, but he could still work for someone else’

‘Who? Is he a beasty?’, Arm questioned, folding his arms and waiting for his older brother to answer.

‘I don’t know, but the fact that he was held captive for over three hours and he still managed to survive by the time we got there raised even more questions’

‘How so?’

‘Mild told me he looked like he already attempted at an escape when she arrived. He had cut off the ropes in his chair with the knife he stole from one the the men. Tell me, how could an inexperience orphan learn how to get out of tied chair whilst fighting six men?’

‘Shit ain’t adding right’, even Tay had to agree, ‘He’s too talented not to be associated with anyone’

‘He may be of good use to us if we knew who he previously worked for and if he’s a spy, we’ll kill him right here and now’, Off sighed, lighting up his cigarette and blowing out the smokes in his living room, ‘Either way, we’ll find answers soon’

‘I think at the very least, we should treat him nice’, Arm spoke out, whispering as they waited for Alice to return, which only made Tay laugh at him.

‘Arm? Asking us to be nice?’, Tay chuckled, sitting on one of the armchairs, ‘What a surprise’

‘The kid’s been through enough’

‘He’s older than you mate’, Off laughed when he heard Arm calling Att a kid, ‘But you’ve got a point. Let’s give him some time to get better before we start questioning him. I know damn well I don’t want Alice to nag at me anymore’

* * *

‘Thanks for taking care of me’, Atthaphan sighed when Alice helped lift him up so he could sit on the headboard. She held a tray of food, tomato soup which was still steaming along with bread she brought from home, ‘These bandages looks professionally done’

‘Well, you should thank Arm for that’, Alice smiled as she took a spoon, feeding Atthaphan slowly, blowing the soup before letting the spoon rest on his lips.

‘Arm?’, Atthaphan tilted his head in confusion once he took a sip of the soup, ‘he did this?’

‘He used to bandage his brothers when we were young. Off would get into fights with the bullies who taunted him and he would come back home with bloodied knuckles so Arm taught himself how to take care of it. He’s a pro at it now’, she chuckled, passing him the bread for him to chew on.

Atthaphan was surprised. Arm had always shown himself to be rough and apathetic, so to imagine Arm sitting beside the bed, bandaging his wrists whilst he slept gave him a weird sense of emotions he couldn’t quite understand.

‘And Off? He’s not going to kill me for sleeping on his bed right?’

‘No, he insisted’, Alice chuckled, ‘Althoguh, he knew if he didn’t, I would’ve killed him, so he’ll be fine. Plus, he knows how to sleep on the floor, he’s done it before’

‘I really didn’t know that Buggy’s men were capable of capturing me. I made sure to stay in Camden’

‘I know’, Alice smiled at him, ‘Even Off was pissed at how his men. Every retired early that night to the pub and the streets were unoccupied. It wasn’t your fault, it was his men’s’

‘Kidnapped twice in one week’, Att sighed, looking up at the ceiling. He started laughing, he couldn’t help but find it amusing that this was the first case where he had found himself vulnerable. This never usually was the case and he knew he needed to toughen up if he wanted to play pretend in the underground world a little further.

‘Welcome to the life of a Slasher’, Alice sighed, still smiling but looking down on the soup with regret, ‘I sometimes wished I never let the boys do this’

‘Well, we’re orphans’, Atthaphan smiled at her comfortingly, ‘We haven’t been given much of a choice’

‘You’re right’, Alice sighed, ’We didn’t turn out like this because we wanted to’

* * *

And so it goes, Atthaphan stayed inside Off’s bedroom for the following week, being allowed to stay whilst Off was out for work. He felt it slightly disrespectful to ruin Off’s trust, but this opportunity wasn’t going to present himself again, so when he gained the strength to start walking again, he got out of bed, checking every drawer. Most were empty, with just scraps of paper, folded and scrunched. Some were letters, piled on top of each other and tied with a string, Atthaphan read the first page, realising it was the passing of letters between two brothers in the middle of war, all addressed to Off who was sent to France whilst it was sighed by Tay who was in Belgium. He placed the stacks of letters back inside the drawer, closing it softly before moving onto the next.

The young detective even went over to his small closet, checking every pocket on his trousers and jacket, but finding nothing useful to him. Off’s notes were just business plans, some that had Mild’s signature beside his, others from undisclosed clients, but when Atthaphan reads through them, he found no suspicion. He offered the usual, protection, secret messages, smuggled supplies of alcohol or cigars, yet not of his customers sound even remotely related to the murderer. It frustrated him because he promised his superior solid evidence and here he was, injured and with no progress.

‘Come on Off. You must be hiding something’, Atthaphan stood in the middle of the room, spinning around to try and fins a crack – a small hiding spot where Off might keep something vital. He even checked a hollow spot on the wall, but it was all bricked up and covered in wallpaper. There was nothing.

‘Do you seriously have nothing to hide?’, Atthaphan whispered to himself frustratingly tugging his hair before he limped back to the bed, only to hear a creak on one of the floorboards.

He immediately stopped walking, pressing his foot down again to hear the creak, smiling to himself as he knelt down on the floor, using his nails to pick at the end of the board, forcefully tugging it before it came off, showing the young detective a small hole with a box hidden inside.

‘Bingo’, Atthaphan smirked to himself as he reached his hand out, passing through cobwebs and dust as he lifted off the metal box, rusted at the hinges. It wasn’t even locked and he opened it with ease, looking down to see another folded pieces of envelope. By the looks of the stain, it didn’t look like it’s been long since he hid it, maybe around one or two months which coincidentally coincided with the start of the murders. He quickly opened the envelope, finding only one piece of paper inside.

There was nothing there. It was just a plain blank piece of paper with only one name written at the top of it, underlined over and over again.

_Joss Way Ar Sangngern._


	8. 08

Joss Way Ar.

Atthaphan found that name hidden underneath Off's floorboards and it had been two days since yet he still didn't know where to find him. The only person he could ask was Off, but he'd have his hands cut off if the latter found out he'd been snooping around his room. His trust had barely been earned and he couldn't break it now.

But who else could know who Joss was? Who was close enough to Off that he'd be comfortable enough to share such confidential information?

'Att, are you here? I brought you some food from the cafe. They're a little cold but I got the best ones', the door slammed shut and followed shortly behind was Alice's voice, loud yet calming at the same time.

Atthaphan got up from the bed, straightening his shirt as he walked out into the living room.

'You don't have to keep visiting. I've been doing well recently'

'Chimon will kill me if I don't', Alice chuckled as she placed the bag of food down on the table, 'He wants you to heal sooner so you can teach again'

'I'm sure he's doing fine on his own'

'He is. He's been practicing his reading and dare I say, he's actually getting better'

'That's good', Atthaphan replied, 'At least there's someone improving'

'You're improving too', Alice pinched his arm playfully, 'Soon you'll be out of here and roaming Camden again'

'I don't think I'll be roaming around any time soon', he admitted, sitting down by the table and reaching out for a sandwich to dig into. The young detective trusted Alice, she was the only person who acted sane most of the time, added onto the fact that he noticed just how much Off relied on her, so much so that her opinion was considered important for him. He'd been told how dear Alice was to him, but he didn't know how important she was until recently. He wondered if she knew things even his brothers didn't.

'Off talks in his sleep', Atthaphan pointed out, trying to make conversation but also wondering if he could get some information out of Alice. He didn't know whether the leader did, but he watched as Alice chuckled as if she saw it coming, a habit that she knew all too well.

'What the hell has he been singing about?', she asked as she took a bite out of her sandwich.

'Does he do it often?'

'Only after he came back from the war', Alice told him, a shade of melancholy in her eyes, 'Most men came back with the Flander's Blues, but Off, he came back with a lot of singing'

'It's like he enjoyed going to war'

'No, quite the opposite', Alice sighed, looking down on the table, 'It was as if he was trying to forget, every last piece of memory hidden in that little box in his mind, and afterwards he would sing chants of old songs we used to sing together as a child, maybe songs he listened to in the radio. Either way, Off never stopped singing in the middle of the night, because that's when the memory's fresh for him'

Atthaphan was only a few years younger than Off yet he never experienced the war. His post in the police academy had ordered him to stay in the city and keep everyone safe whilst the rest of the men drafted went to fight. He had regretted not joining his fellow men, but when they came back, they were different. It was as if their souls had been lost from their eyes. They were hollow shells of who they used to be. Atthaphan was suddenly glad that the King had told his department to continue with their jobs, being used as spies to scavenge the streets of London for any bogeys or traitors.

'Did he used to sing about a Joss Way Ar before?', he suddenly asked, which made Alice choke on her food, coughing a little as she stood up to grab a drink of water from the kitchen.

'Where did you hear that name?'

'I told you, Off talked in his sleep. He was just mumbling nonsense and then he said the name'

'After all this time, huh', Alice looked down on the tap as she spat the cold water from her mouth, letting the chewed food land on the silvet basin.

'Who is he?'

'Someone that needs to be avoided', she pointed out defensively, which worried Atthaphan since Alice was so carefree, he wondered who the man was that would emit such a bitter response from her.

'But he must be important if he's on Off's mind'

'He's not important. Just a nuisance', Alice sighed, turning the tap off and cleaning the basin, a look of disgust on her face.

'Why was he a nuisance'

'Att, you really don't need to know. The Slasher's history has never been clean but Joss… Joss was our biggest mistake'

'Our?', Atthaphan repeated, but Alice was strong, just as strong as Off, so he shrugged off his questions and hurried back to the living room, smiling fondly at him.

'You're glad you joined after he left. He was a tough one'

'He was a Slasher?'

'More than that', Alice whispered, looking around as if Off had eyes and ears cemented all over the walls, 'He was a future heir to the franchise'

'Future heir?', now it was the young detective's turn to spit out his food, 'There's more brothers?'

'Look, I'm only telling you this because it looks like it's been on Off's mind lately, but… I wouldn't dare ask him directly of that name. He despises him with all his heart, and you know what happens to the people he hates'

'So, who is he? An estranged brother?'

'More like an estranged brother in law'

'I beg your pardon?', Atthaphan shouted, getting up to his feet in shock as he grabbed Alice's hands, 'Whose husband was he?'

'Tay's'

The heart?

'Tay got married?'

'Of course he did, to his first love', Alice finally gave in and told him, because she didn't know what else to do if Off was still sniffing on his trails. She'd witnessed her best friend do the worst of crimes but she was afraid he might one day go too far with him, 'They met in school, Joss was a student and Tay was a chimney sweeper hired to clean the school. Once Joss graduated, they eloped and got married without anyone's knowledge'

'And what happened?'

'Off was livid at first, but we got used to him. He was from the middle class, attending school and even having a real office job in Westminster. He was different from us but… He was once caring and Tay was absolutely in love with him. He was also the one who gave us connections to some of our clients today. He was our bridge to the upper class and since he was useful, Off agreed to write his name over the shares of the company. He was in fact family at the time'

'Did he have any… Violent tendecy?'

'A lot', Alice admitted, sitting back down on the chair and grabbing herself a cigarette, 'He was in charge of recruiting new men into the group. Off and I weren't aware of this, but he used to force them to go through these initiations, sort of like how they do it in boarding school, how they strip the new guys naked and make them run around the field, or force them to dive into the freezing cold lake. It was hell for the Slashers and it wasn't until Tay found out and told us did we confront him. We immediately forced him to stop but he took his anger out on Off, accusing him that he was being soft. He wanted to be the leader so bad, he tried to manipulate our men into siding with him instead of Off. It was a goddammit civil war at one point'

'What happened to him?'

'You don't actually think Off would keep him around when he started to get too comfortable?', Alice asked him, taking a big drag before blowing out the smoke, filling the room with grey, 'Off had to get rid of him. No matter how painful it was, it was like getting rid of a tumour, it was painful now but it'll be better in the long run… That's what we told Tay anyway'

'Where is he now?'

'Even I don't know', Alice admitted, 'Last time I heard, Off asked Mild to take care of it'

'Mild?', Atthaphan whispered the infamous name he's been acquainted with recently.

'Look, I don't know why Joss came back to Off's mind, but whatever you do, never mention that name in front of Off and especially in front of Tay. The heart may be calm, but once you pinch it, it'll race and give the rest of the body pain. We need Tay to be as calm as possible, he's the only one who can speak some sense to Arm and Off. If he explodes then we all explode'

'I won't, I promise', Atthaphan nodded, yet the name was seared into his mind.

An enemy of the Slasher and a former heir to the business? Violent tendencies and maybe a vengeance for Off Jumpol? Suddenly the murders seemed to finally link together.

Joss was the bridge the Slasher once had to the rich, but now that he's not needed, he's going to try and take away as much clients as possible. Hence why they found another nobleman floating in the Thames last week.

The pieces were finally fitting together.

* * *

'Where's Tay?', Arm shouted for his brother as soon as he arrived at the bar, looking around for the tall idiot before stealing one of his whiskies from his cabinet.

'He's with Viscount Thitipoom', Off answered, sitting on one of the circular chairs, looking down at his contract with Gunsmile before placing it in his briefcase.

'You forced him to get close with him when you could've gotten Alice or me to do it', Arm scoffed when he heard the Viscount's name, knowing full well Off's true intentions.

'Tay's been the better one when it comes to dealing with the rich. Let's say… He attracts them'

'You know, Tay might follow you around like a dog, but don't think he'll stay loyal if he found out what you did', Arm laughed, feeling comfortable in bringing up the past when Tay wasn't around. Arm was always the one kept in the dark, being the last to know about the family decision, but this was the first time that he knew about Off's doings before anyone, even before Alice, which made him gloat at every given chance.

'The past is past. I don't know why you're bringing it up all of a sudden', Off sighed when he looked up to watch his younger brother approaching him, sitting down opposite him with a bottle of whisky.

'Look, all I'm saying is, maybe it's too soon to drag Tay into the nasty business of rich people'

'Too soon?', Off chuckled, folding his arms and staring at his brother, 'Tay's been fucking that Viscount since the first night they met. I'm sad to even say he might be enjoying his new business partner all too much. I think we're all way past it'

'Tay falls in love harder than I do', Arm finally spoke out to his brother with a serious tone, one filled with worry for his favourite brother, 'I might kill for love but him? He might do something worse'

'He won't betray his family', Off reassured his brother, grabbing the bottle from Arm's hands and taking a swing, 'He's Tay, he won't do anything that'll harm you or me'

'Whatever you say', Arm shrugged, 'But if he falls in love with that Viscount, we might have another Joss in our hands'

'Don't ever say his name in front of me again', Off spat out his drink in disgust.

'I'm just saying. We nearly lost Tay because of him. What if we lose him because of that Viscount?'

'Have you even met Viscount Thitipoom?', Off smirked, 'He's naive and doesn't know anything. Tay will play around with him and once we're done, he'll leave. Tay's much stronger than you think, why do you think I have him the job?'

'Let's hope you're right brother'

'I am right', Off stood up and adjusted his cuffs, 'I'm always right'

* * *

'What is this place?', Viscount Thitipoom looked around the abandoned ballroom that Tay had sneaked him in. He got a call from the front reception that a man was waiting for him in the front hall and he wanted to ignore it. He'd been meeting Lords and Viscounts all day, his father pressuring him to choose a husband already, yet all the men who greeted him were either boring or old. He had no interest in any of them.

But when he looked down from the top of the foyer, he found Tay waiting for him in his best suit and a top hat, leaning on the hotel walls and looking down at his pocket watch.

He allowed himself to be dragged by the mysterious man, holding onto his hand as they drove to Central London where there was an old abandoning building.

'This used to be an opera house', Tay explained, taking off his jacket and throwing it on the dusty floor. He watched as New looked around with awe, seeing the empty velvet seats which were now stained and old, iron rusted.

Tay had had it to the front of the stage already, his shoes tapping against the wooden floors as he headed backstage to switch the lights on blaring the spotlight onto New.

'I heard you're an aspiring composer', Tay called from the back, leaning on the light switches and watching New's face soften.

'No one really cared to talk to me about that', New sighed, 'Everyone just wanted to talk business with me'

'I'm a little different aren't I?', Tay recalled, taking off his top hat and resting it beside the grand piano on centre stage, 'You should know I'm intrigued by you'

'Maybe a little too intrigued', New laughed as he joined Tay on stage, his eyes looking down on the stained piano keys.

'It may look old but it still plays wonders', Tay commented when he noticed New looking down on the instrument.

'How do you know?'

'I play here sometimes', he admitted, 'When I need to get my head out of the dump'

'You play?'

'Not very well', Tay confessed, sitting down on the edge of the seat and tapping the empty space for New to fill, which he glady did, sitting beside Tay, shoulders brushing.

It was a musicians instinct to feel the instrument, his fingertips brushing against the keys and realising how smooth it was, as if someone was secretly taking care of it.

New's father had let him do whatever he wanted, so in his spare time he had started to compose pieces of music in the hopes of writing an opera or ballet. He had never liked sitting in silence and preferred to be filled with music and sometimes he needed to be the one to fill the silence.

Tay didn't ask, but New had began to play a soft melody, one which he composed himself, echoing across the abandoned hall. He closed his eyes and remembered the endless nights of loneliness he spent in his Manor, playing until his fingers ached and finding solace in it. He couldn't help but finally wanna share it to someone else.

Tay on the other hand revelled with the way New played confidently but never arrogantly. Off had told him how naive the young Viscount was but he never knew his innocence can look so sweet either. It was a nice change from all the roughness he had to deal with.

New was a pleasant surprise.

A little bit more push and New will agree on a partnership between him and the Cuff Slashers but he also wanted to stay close to him all of a sudden, as if his infatuation wasn't done yet. Off had warned him to keep his focus on the business, yet he never usually followed his brother's orders, so he smiled and joined in, picking up on the chords that New would use and making his own melody, two clashing hands creating one piece of music. It was cathartic and haunting at the same time.

* * *

Arm found his way to Mild's headquarters. He knew she was out of town, but Jennie was waiting for him in her office instead, her long hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a dress which fell by her ankles.

'Sporting a nice pearl necklace', he pointed out as soon as he arrived, dragging a wooden chair to face the desk to which he winked and smirked when he spotted a string of white pearls wrapped around her pretty neck, 'Looks like that childhood friend of yours is still smitten over you'

'I don't see how that's any of your business', she pointed out yet there was a smile on her face as she brought her hands up to touch it. Gunsmile was tough and creepy to everyone else but to Jennie, he was like a school kid with a crush again, it made everything easier for them to hold business yet they still found it peculiar how different he acted.

Arm had know Jennie for some time, visiting Mild whenever it was necessary and being introduced to her growing gang. Jennie was smart and sociable, she could get in and out of clubs without anyone realising the stash of cash hidden underneath her skirt. She had become Mild's accountant and right hand woman in a matter of months.

'How's Off doing? I'm sure he's making a lot of new friends', Jennie sarcastically pointed out, writing notes in her books before closing it, clicking her pen and watching the way Arm observed her.

'Oh well, he's practically best friend with your little boyfriend', Arm chuckled, stretching his leg out and leaning his feet on the desk, 'I'm sure he'll make new ones soon'

'Mild told me you're here to check up on business', Jennie finally pointed out their appointment, 'I heard your brother's making you the head of the smuggling enterprise'

'I know a thing or two about alcohol', Arm admitted, his pride getting the better of him, 'The deal's set in motion and our partners in New York are waiting for the first batch of gin by next month. I suggest we make a move and use the shipments coming next week'

'I suggested to Mild to wait for another two weeks. The police had been sniffing around a little too much in the Thames, especially because of that pesky killer on the lose'

'Ah right, that killer', Arm whined when he's made reminded of the hand stealer, 'He's been doing my head in'

'How do you know it's a he?', Jennie asked.

'No woman would ever do a pesky job in getting rid of the body', Arm sighed, looking down and playing with his watch, 'You can entrust a woman to clean up after herself but a man? Well…'

'That I can agree with', Jennie chuckled, leaning back on her chair and staring at Arm, 'There's been someone rumours that the killer is you'

'I may look like the hand stealer but trust me, if I ever do a shit job like him then it'll be my brothers' I'll be dealing with, not the police'

'That's correct', Jennie nodded, 'Both Off and Tay wouldn't let you do such a piss poor job at being a serial killer'

'So I guess we all know who the killer is then?', Arm pointed out, a pregnant pause between them as they started into each other's eyes, a moment of anguish built in tension when Arm took off his watch, placing it on the center of the scratched desk.

11.11

'Tell the killer not to dump their next victim into the Thames next week', Arm whispered to Jennie, 'We'll be needing the area cleared from pigs'

'I said in two weeks'

'Well, I say in one', Arm showed no signs of compromise, tapping his finger on the desk before standing up, 'I've humoured his endeavours long enough, but the Slasher's got business to do and I don't ever want my name to be associated with his grotesque hobbies. One week from now and if I so much find a body floating around Canary Wharf during that time, my lips will no longer be sealed. Got it?', he whispered the last command to Jennie, letting her now that despite their tolerable friendship, he holds his family business to a much higher standard.

'Fine, a week', Jennie nodded, grabbing his watch and sliding it inside her pockets.

'And for the love of God, stop covering for him', Arm rolled his eyes when he saw how nervous Jennie started to look, 'He's killing innocent people too. I think he's crossed the borders of vengeance a long time ago. I think he's just doing this for fun now'

'Lord Hudders killed my family', Jennie called out when Arm buttoned his jacket and walked towards the door, his hand resting on the doorknob.

'So the hand stealer killed him and his wife in return', Arm nodded, 'I mean it makes sense to kill him but a pregnant woman? Tell me what they did wrong'

'Coming from you, a man who would punch someone for the hell of it', Jennie scoffed when she heard Arm trying to be righteous but she knew he was far from it, the entire city knew he was far from it.

'I start fights with scums, not with innocent women with child', Arm pointed back out, 'I may be a scum but at least I won't be at his level. You shouldn't be either. We all got fucked over by someone at some point in our lives, don't let your revenge consume you, it really isn't worth it'

'Didn't you exile your precious brother in law out of revenge?', Jennie leaned back on her chair and smirked, not buying into the idea that any Slasher was better than her. They may be the top dog now, but they didn't build themselves from the ground up without betraying a few people.

'Fine, follow our footsteps and suffer the same consequences as we did', Arm smiled back at her, 'I don't regret doing what we did, but we most certainly did have to pay for it… We still do. I hope you're ready to pay for your own consequences when the time comes'

'An eye for an eye, Arm', Jennie called out to him one last time before he opened the door, 'My mess has been settled but yours… He took your eye but your pierced his heart. That's an unfair deal and you know it. So watch out, if he ever comes back, he'll be taking the heart, no question'

'Worry about yourself Jennie', Arm nodded at her, 'The pigs have surrounded the city because of the hand stealer. One slip up and all our business is done for because of him', he left Jennie to her own devices, closing the door behind him, ending the meeting as he reunited with his men who waited patiently at the front of the building.

'Where to now boss?', they asked him and he stayed silent for a minute, lighting a cigarette and blowing a drag before throwing the matchstick into the river.

'Let's go back to Tay's bar'

* * *

'Joss Way Ar Sangngern?', Inspector Craine read through the files of the man which Atthaphan had told him, flipping through the pages, 'You think this man is killing all the innocent lives of Londoners?'

'He has a motive', Atthaphan explained, pacing back and forth in his office, 'He's an enemy of the Slasher, he's been exiled and these killings might be a retaliation'

'And?'

'It'll explain why he's using the Slasher's tactics on his victims. We all are just as confused as to why the victims hands are cut off. Maybe it's a warning sign for the Slashers?'

'This man has no criminal records and he served in France during the war, earning himself a medal. I don't think he'd come back and kill the people he vowed to protect'

'Look, Off wouldn't be keeping a close eye on him if he wasn't making any trouble'

'That I can't deny', Inspector Craine nodded, looking through the files once more but finding no flaw in the man, 'I guess I'll get my team up to investigate him, see if he has an alibi'

Atthaphan smiled when he finally got his boss's approval.

'I'll come with them sir. You can-'

'No, you stay here and keep a close eye on the Slasher'

'Sir?', Atthaphan was confused as he watched his boss stand up and grab his jacket from the cost peg, 'Aren't you going to reassign me? I've done my part and kept watch of the Slashers. They're not part of it so shouldn't you send me where the suspect is?'

'We still don't know whether he's a suspect. We're only investigating, whereas you've already gain the trust of the Slashers, it'll be a waste not to use it'

'Sir, come on, don't be absurd, I don't wanna stay any longer. They're brutes. I got kidnapped and tortured twice all in a span of a week! They're insane!'

'Which is why you'll fit right in', his boss shook his head and refused to listen to anymore of Atthaphan's complaints, 'I've sent some of my best men to keep an eye on Off and all of them had been sniffed out and discarded within a week. That Off boy has an eye for traitors. I was surprised you even lasted this far'

'You cannot make me stay with Off', Atthaphan stopped his superior from opening the door knob, glaring at him, 'Let me be of good use somewhere else'

'Off is a fine man with fine goals that might correlate to our case. You're the only one who's lasted this long in his presence. Keep going and sniff out as much dirt as you can. It won't be long till he gives in and admits to his affiliation with the killer'

'I'm begging you'

'Atthaphan, think of this as your promotion. Solve this case and I'll make you manager of the Westminster department'

'But… That's your job'

'Yeah, it is', his superior smiled and patted him on the back, 'And you better help me solve my last case before I retire. I want the Hand Stealer behind bars, got it?'

* * *

'What are the Beasty men doing here?', Arm whined when he heard the loud changing and singing coming from the other table, staring at Gunsmile's men who treated his brother's bar like a pig's den, spilling their beer everywhere, singing over the performers on stage. It was disgusting to see.

'They're allowed in our turf', Off reminded him as he blew out his cigar, letting the grey smoke surround him, 'Just as much as you're allowed in his area'

'I'd rather die than go to his area. I heard their ale was horrid', Arm snorted, leaning back on his chair as he spent the evening with his oldest brother. With Tay preoccupied someplace else, Arm had no choice but to make small conversation with Off. The two brothers didn't get along most of the time, butting heads and sometimes even butting guns when they're both having a shit day, but they found peace tonight.

Arm didn't fuck up and Off wasn't in a bad mood, so the silence between them was calm.

'Are you gonna propose to Alice?', Off suddenly asked his brother, resting his cigar between his fingers as he watched the performers sing blues, letting the jazz piano fill the air whilst the scent of smoke and alcohol filled the room.

'Soon', Arm replied, not looking at Off. Despite Off's platonic relationship with Alice, he was still intimidated by their closeness and he didn't want his brother to meddle in his affairs with her.

'She's only going to say yes if you promise to quit and get a decent job'

'She'll understand'

'No she won't', Off snickered, knowing Alice well, 'If she doesn't get that from you then she won't marry you'

'Then I'll fucking quit then', Arm spat out on the floor and raised his voice, 'I'll pack my fucking bags and I'll move Alice as far from this dump'

'Well then', Off chuckled, finally turning to stare at his brother, 'If you do that, just know that your name will still be in the inheritance'

'You're not gonna stop me?'

'You're my brother. I may not like you, but I still want what's best for you, and right now that's Alice', he confessed, tapping the end of his cigar and letting the ashes fall on the floor, 'Marry her, she's only the good woman around here'

'And what about you? You're just gonna let us leave? What about the business?'

'I've got enough men', Off nodded, 'And I still have Tay. But if you're ever that worried, who said you needed to leave the city? You won't be a Slasher anymore but you're still an Adulkittiporn. You'll be head management to our legitimate business'

'What legitimate business?', Arm scoffed at his brother, shaking his head and downing his drink, 'All our business aren't legitimate'

'Once we start handling business over in America, I'll set up a proper business. The Adulkittiporn enterprise of vehicle manufacturing. You'll manage the factories and all the money in your pocket would be legal money'

'In fairness, Alice would love that'

'Ay, she will', Off smiled, taking off his gloves and letting Arm stare at his calloused hands, 'If you stop fucking around then I'll promise you all this, alright?', he reached his bare hand out in front of his brother, offering a handshake on his deal to which Arm just looked down.

'Why do you want Alice to marry me?'

'Alice is our family, we might as well make it official and add her name on our list', Off told him, his eyes sincere, 'So?'

'Well, who's gonna say no to that', Arm grinned as he grabbed his brother's hand, feeling the rough edges of skin and holding it tighter, 'Just make sure to give me the best factory'

'I'll be betting on it', Off smiled in return. It's hard to have a civil conversation with his brother but he knew once Alice was involved, it was easy to persuade Arm to his dealings.

'Off'

The two brothers turned around to find the young orphan heading towards them, in an oversized shirt which was tucked inside his trousers, a peaky hat hiding his hair.

'Att, what're you doing outside the apartment?', Off asked with a raised brow, 'I thought you were still bedridden'

'I'm fine', Att replied, although he looked frustrated and breathless, as if he'd been running.

'Where have you been?', Off asked but his question remained unanswered when he felt Att straddling his lap, resting his arms on his shoulders as he leaned in and tested his head on the crevice of his neck.

'Woah', Arm snorted, having witnessed the brash behaviour of the young tutor, not holding back his laugh when he saw his brother's shocked reaction. Off was never a bag of emotions, so to see his eyes widen and even his lip part in surprise was enough to send Arm in howls of laughter.

'Att, what the hell are you doing?', Off asked once more grabbing his gloves and putting it back on before he rested his hand on the farmer's waist.

'I'm tired', he heard Att whispering against his ears, 'Can I just rest here?'

'On my fucking lap?', Off glared down at him, but even when he looked, he still couldn't see Att's face, it was buried too deep on his neck, to the point where he could feel his lips on his skin, 'Go back to the apartment and rest there. You weren't supposed to go out in the first place, where did you run off to?'

'You sure trust me to leave me alone in your apartment', Att chuckled, his warm breath landing on his neck.

'It's not that I trust you', Off replied, edging his head back to avoid feerling the roughness of Att's hat pressing on his cheeks, 'You're too dumb to find anything useful, so try all you want'

'I'd beg to differ', Att whispered.

'What?'

'Nothing', Att replied whilst shaking his head, folding his arms around Off's neck and hugging him closer.

'How many times have you fucked already?', Arm asked, laughing at the sight, reaching his hand out to steal the cigar from his brother's hand. He took a drag then crushed the butt of the cigar under his heel before standing up.

'We haven't fucked. I don't know what's wrong with this bastard', Off responded before his brother could leave. He had a reputation to uphold and he didn't need whispers of him to be passed down.

'Don't worry brother', Arm patted his head and ruffled his hair like a child, 'We all need some release'

Off attempted to kick his brother, but the man straddling his lap didn't give him that much room to fight back, which only made Arm laugh more.

'I'll give you some time alone brother', Arm shouted at him, 'Take all the time you need!'

'You've got three seconds to get off me otherwise you might earn another bruise on your face', Off whispered to Att once his brother disappeared.

'Shouldn't we consider ourselves as friends now? After all you've put me through?'

'Mild was my mistake but Buggy Boy was not my doing', Off admitted, pushing him back so that he can finally see him, 'You're frustrated, I can tell by your eyes. What the hell did you get up to whilst I was away?'

How could Atthaphan not be frustrated? He never wanted to spy on the Slashers in the first place and now that the case was moving in a different direction, he was being left behind to be Off's lackey. He hated his superior but he hated Off more. Never in his whole career, not even when he was spying for the King did he ever had to be tortured, kidnapped and belittled as often as be did the moment he started working for him. And now, his new assignment was to stay as close to Off as possible and listen in on any possible new information that might be useful.

Well, if he was gonna get a promotion out of this, then he was going to take his order literally.

'I don't like being cooped up in your apartment anymore', Att confessed, 'Let me teach Chimon again'

'You don't need to bribe me, just say you're okay then you can go back to work. Your Alice's employee anyway, not mine'

'And don't accuse me of anything I'm not', he whispered again, 'I'm not one of Buggy's men and I'm not a traitor'

'We'll wait and see about that', Off replied, pushing him off, Att finally stepping out of his lap, 'And next time you do that, I'll slit your throat'

'You didn't stop me now, why stop me later?'

'I'm in a good mood today', Off pushed his weight on his cane as he stood up, glaring down at the fickle young man, 'And you're sick, but now that you're better, you're no longer getting special treatment from me. You're moving to Alice's place'

'Wait, what? I'm not staying at yours?'

'I don't find you to be too suspicious anymore', Off admitted, 'So get out of my apartment and stay close to Chimon', he turned to exit the bar and retire for the night.

'Can't I just stay at yours?'

'You wanna keep sleeping on the floor?', Off continued walking yet he noticed the young man following him shortly, tailing behind him as they walked up the stairs towards the exit.

'It's safer with you'

'No place is safe here', Off pointed out, buttoning his coat closed when he felt the strong gush of cold wind as soon as he opened the door.

'But every time you're gone, I'm always getting fucking kidnapped. Can't I at least stay where I know that's not gonna happen?'

'Alice's place is just as safe as mine', the leader of the Cuff Slashers was adamant on his decision and he wasn't going to get the man's whining change his mind.

'Off, come on, you're the one who asked me to move in'

'And now I'm asking you to move out. Is that a hard concept to wrap your heard around'

'This is stupid, just let me stay with you'

'Why do you wanna stay? Has something caught your eye? Have you been snooping around whilst I'm away?', he stopped walking, glaring down at the man and tapping his fingers on his cane impatiently, 'You should be glad I'm letting you go, think of this as your second chance'

'I'm always in danger when I'm not with you, can't I just-'

'Shh', Off immediately pressed his fingers against Att's lips when he heard footsteps surrounding them, his eyes darting back and forth and realising they were the only people standing on the streets.

'What?', Att pushed his hands away from his face.

'Where's everyone else?', London was a city that never slept, workers spending their nights in pubs, children running around the streets late at night, yet there were only two of them standing in the middle of a dark streets with nothing but street lamps illuminating their path.

So where did the sound of footsteps came from?

Att turned back to look at the empty road ahead of them, sighing when he felt the ominous shadows moving in the far distance.

'Not again', he whined, 'I just got kidnapped last week'

'Shut up', Off grabbed a gun from his strap, passing one to Att who took it in one hand. He walked slowly, with his calm expression as he reached out for his own revolver, squinting his eyes to watch the shadows turn taller the closer he was.

'Your brave trying to intimidate me in my own turf', Off called out, his voice raised yet still calm and soft, sounding as if nothing phased him, not even the figures that were slowly stepping out of the shadows.

'Don't feel too confident Mr Adulkittiporn, you don't own anything', a deep voice responded to him, the figure leaning on a lamp post, 'Buggy Boy doesn't usually call for help, but you've been pestering my partner for too long, I had to come down and see the mess you've made'

Off noticed his northern accent.

'Where're you from?', he asked them, swinging his cane and walking closer, 'You're clearly not from around here'

'And you should be glad I'm not. Otherwise I'd have tied a noose around your neck already'

'Don't act so cocky', Off warned them, 'Just tell me what you want and leave'

'I want the boy'

'What boy?'

'Chimon', the deep voice called out, stepping out of the shadows and letting his long coat hit the floor. Off finally saw the figure under the artifical light, his skin fair and hair shaved at the sides, 'Give me back the boy'

'The boy's under our custody', Off replied, 'And that's the deal. I'm not handing him over to you'

'I'm not asking', the man sneered at him, snorting as he spat out the phlegm on the cobbled street, 'I want you to go fetch that kid and hand him over to me then maybe you might live'

'You think you can kill me?', Off sneered back, lifting his head up and standing taller in front of the stranger.

'Oh, I know I can', the stranger smirked at him, clicking his fingers then all of a sudden Off heard an array of guns pointed at his direction, 'One click and boom. Your head's gone'

'Well I say', Off smiled back, looking around to find at least a dozen men surrounding him with guns in their hands, 'What's your name? Buggy didn't tell me he had a friend'

'The name's Toy', the man said to him, kissing his teeth as he took another step closer, eyeing Off up and down, 'You'll be seeing me often'

'I highly doubt that', Off licked his lips before rubbing his nose. He couldn't turn around to see where Att had gone, but he had given him a gun and he'd seen what the kid can do, so for now, he relied his plan on the young tutor alone which might get him killed, but as of right now he had to take his chances, 'Anyway, nice meeting you Toy but I really need to get going. I've got business in the morning'

Off took a step back and as soon as he did, he swung his cane high up in the air, knocking Toy's head with a hard hit which sent him tumbling to the ground with a loud thud.

'Shoot!', he heard Toy shouting from the floor and he aimed his gun at the nearest target, shooting at a close range and letting the gun push him back slightly from the impact.

He thought he'd feel a hit, maybe a bullet in the leg or arm, but he felt nothing, so he kept going, running back and hiding behind a vehicle parked at the side of the road, hearing the countless bangs of guns.

It was too dark to see all of his targets, but he shot at shadows he could see from his angle, hearing more shots fired, but this time on the other end.

From the far left of the street stood a short man, his arm stretched out and gun aimed ahead, one eye closed as he continued to fire, sending a dozen men running back for defence.

Off looked at the way Att stood, poise and strong, his expression tough and focused, his hands experienced in holding a gun. He couldn't help but smirk, turning back to see Toy's men retreating because of one man.

'You brought your Gun with you?', Toy shouted once he stood, a hand resting on his bleeding head, 'You're weak and pathetic, letting another man do you bidding'

'Says the guy with a dozen men', Off shouted back, 'If you wanted to fight fair, you would've come to see me alone', with confidence, Off left the shadows of the vehicle and walked back to the centre where he stood, laughing when he saw Toy step back again, 'I thought you said you'd take my head'

'Just give me Chimon and all peace will be restored'

'The boy wants to stay with me', Off shouted back, 'So that's where he'll stay and until he changes his mind, my decision is final', Off raised his arm up at the sky, shooting at the street lights and dimming the street to pure darkness.

'Att', he called out, 'Finish them'

Off put his gun away whilst he read the sounds of gun shot from behind, walking down the opposite end of the street, tapping cane whilst he walked and laughing when Toy and his men finally retreated and ran the other way.

He knew exactly where Att was standing, in the shadows behind the street light.

'You're good', he approached the young man, grabbing his gun back from his hands once Att stopped shooting, 'You better carry your own next time. I don't like sharing'

'Why is Chimon so important?', Att asked, breathing heavy after having to tun the other way to avoid being spotted by Toy's men, lurking in the shadow and waiting for Off to make a move before he started shooting. His adrenaline was still pumping his heart and all he could think of was the young boy. Why was everyone after him? How important was he?

'He's Buggy Boy's future heir and whoever he sides with when he comes of age gets the shares to his businesses', Off placed the gun back behind his trousers, eyeing the young man up and down.

'So what are we gonna do now?'

'Gun', Off ignored his question and blurted out the first thought he had when he looked at the young man.

'What?'

'You'll be my gun', he said again, 'You're skilled. We might as well put you to good use'

'I'm not going to kill for you', Att shook his head, 'This was for self defence'

'Do you wanna keep staying at my apartment?', Off asked as he tilted his head and leaned his weight on his cane, patiently waiting for Att to reply to him.

'Not if I have to kill anyone'

'Don't act as if you haven't', Off scoffed, 'You managed to scare and injure a dozen men. One to twelve, you expect me to believe you haven't killed anyone yet?'

'I really don't think it's a good idea'

'I think it's a wonderful idea', Off smirked, resting his finger under Att's chin and lifting it up, 'Let's see… Slashers get new names under my orders', he hummed a little, tapping Att's cheeks before smiling down at him.

'My first order to you as a Slasher is to protect Chimon at all cost. Do you understand Gun?'

'Gun?', Att tilted his head when he heard Off address him as something else.

'It's a name that fits', Off nodded, 'I think it suits you well. So are you gonna accept it or not?'

Att thought about it. He thought about Inspector Craine's orders and his promise to him if he get the job done.

He was the only one who's ever gotten this close to the Slashers without dying, what more information could he extract if he actually become one of them?

'Fine', he gave in, pushing the hand which rested in his chin.

'Great', Off nodded, walking pass him and towards his apartment, 'Come along Gun, we've got a lot to plan ahead'

'Plan ahead for what?', Att raced after Off, walking beside him as they headed back home, the two silhouette, different in size, yet walking in the same direction and for the first time sharing the same goal.

'We're going to keep Chimon safe'


End file.
